Fallen Hero - A Matt Houston Story
by boswifedeb
Summary: When the home of Matt's favorite nurse and her Marine husband is firebombed, the private investigator is called in to help, and in the process embarks on a new aspect of his career. **Immediately follows "Disappearances Can Be Deceiving"** Rated T.
1. Chapter 1

"**Fallen Hero"**

****This story immediately follows "An Unexpected Ally"****

"**The dead cannot cry out for justice. It is a**

**duty of the living to do so for them."**

**Lois McMaster Bujold**

**CHAPTER 1**

"Houston." Matt was too sleepy to even look at the caller ID on the phone beside the bed. Thanks to having Michael Hoyt's daughter Kathy for a babysitter, he and CJ had been out on a date for the first time in ages and had only gotten in a couple of hours before. It was now 4:03am as he answered the phone.

"Houston, somebody killed Charles!" The voice on the other end of the phone was that of Sheila Wentworth, a nurse who had taken care of Matt on several occasions, including being his private nurse at the ranch after he was injured in a bomb blast. Her husband Charles had just come home from Afghanistan and was just a few weeks shy of being discharged from the Marine Corps. He and Sheila had come over to the house for dinner one night after he got back into town.

"What?!" Matt sat straight up in the bed. "Sheila, where are you?" The phone hadn't woken CJ up, but Matt's yelling did. She was wide awake.

"I'm at our house – or what's left of it. Houston, they almost burnt it to the ground." The normally happy and bubbly nurse burst into tears.

"Hang on darlin', what's the address?" He grabbed a pen and paper next to the bed and wrote it down. "Okay, I'll be right there. You just hang tight, okay?" He hung up the phone and began putting clothes on.

"What in the world happened?" CJ was up putting on clothes as well.

"Sheila's husband is dead. Somebody set their house on fire apparently." He was fastening his jeans and sliding on his boots.

"I'll come with you. Let me go tell Kathy what's going on. They'll be safe here with the alarm on." She ran into the guest room where the girl was spending the night and let her know what was going on, then came back and finished getting dressed as Matt donned a ball cap and pulled his Glock out of the bedside table.

As he walked out into the hall, Kathy was standing in the doorway to the guest room. "You'll be safe here with the alarm set and I'm going to call Bo and Lamar to come up here. They'll stay in the living room so you don't have to worry about anything." He gave the teen a hug and headed on through the den and pulled his cell phone out of his pocket on his way. When the phone at the bunkhouse was answered by a sleepy-sounding Bo, Matt told him what was going on and the ranch hand immediately agreed to stay up at the house until Matt and CJ got back. CJ caught up with him at that point and they headed off to Sheila's house.

As they drove up the narrow street, they could see the lights from fire trucks and police cars, as well as flames leaping into the air from a mile away. Matt pulled his truck over and parked on the side of the road about half a mile from the house – it was as close as he could get. He grabbed his ID from the LAPD and clipped it on the front of his denim shirt as he took CJ by the hand and they walked up to where the crime scene tape was stretched. Sheila spotted the pair just as Matt ducked under the tape and she ran to them, pulling both of them into a desperate hug. "Easy now, hon. Here – sit down here". Matt opened the door on a patrol car and had her sit down in the passenger seat. It was then that he heard a familiar voice behind him.

"I was about to call you when Sheila told me she already had." Matt turned to see a good friend of his, Sgt. Larry Carlisle of the LAPD standing a couple of feet away.

"Is this yours?" Matt motioned to the car and Larry nodded. The private eye turned back and knelt down in front of the distraught nurse who was trying very hard not to lose control. "Okay, now tell me what happened, hon."

After taking a shaky breath, Sheila started in. "We went out to Mario's for dinner tonight and got back home around 9:00. When we got here, there were two guys pounding on the front door. We just moved in here last week, and we had no idea who they were. Charles got out of the car and asked if there was something he could help them with and they told him to get lost. When he let them know that we were living here, they looked at each other and took off. Charles said they probably were looking for someone who used to live here and we didn't think anything else about it. After we went to bed, I heard something and we got up to see what it was. There was the same car sitting out front that those guys were in earlier, so he called the police. By the time Larry got here, they were gone, but we went on and filed a report. So about an hour ago, I heard something again – glass breaking and then there was a loud boom. We ran into the living room and it was on fire. They had thrown a bottle through the front window. Charles grabbed a blanket to try to put the fire out and just as he almost had it out, they threw another one in and it landed at his feet." She lost it at that point. CJ knelt down to comfort her as Larry pulled Matt aside.

"He never stood a chance, Houston. The bottle broke right at his feet and the – whatever they were using – gas, alcohol, whatever – apparently splashed onto his feet and pajama pants." Larry shook his head. "Bless her heart, she managed to pull him out the front door and get the flames out but he was already gone." The long-time cop was near to choking up himself.

"Were they able to get a license number from earlier?" Matt turned to look at CJ who was doing her best to calm down Sheila.

"Nope, they couldn't see it." Larry looked back at the now smoldering house. The firemen had most of the flames out and were sifting through looking for hotspots.

"Have you got any evidence bags?" Matt was watching the firemen.

"Yeah." Larry went to the trunk of the car and pulled some out as Matt put on a pair of black gloves and headed down toward the house, stopping to talk to the fire captain, who looked at his ID then made a phone call, and after a minute nodded at Matt who headed up into what was left of the house. The cop watched as Matt began talking to the firemen who directed him to the area where the Molotov cocktails had shattered. He pulled out his phone and began taking photos of the shattered glass and of the accelerant marks on the floor. Next he took pictures of the remains of the front window where the bottles had come through, then carefully collected the glass and placed it in the evidence bags.

Larry had walked back over to the patrol car where Sheila and CJ were both watching him. "CJ, I don't want to sound like a jerk, but he really shouldn't be doing that. It could compromise the investigation."

CJ gave him a grim smile and shook her head no. "He's been taking Fire Investigation classes and has been hired on as a consultant to the Fire Marshal's office."

The veteran cop's head snapped toward CJ. "Seriously? Wow, I had no idea."

Sheila looked at CJ. "When did he do all that?"

"He started back in the fall. Aced his first exam the day before Hoyt got shot." Matt's friend Lt. Michael Hoyt had been shot a couple of weeks earlier and was now recuperating.

A few minutes later the man responsible for Matt's decision to learn fire investigation pulled up. Capt. Rich Holt, the newest Fire Marshal, got out of his car and headed on down to where Matt was shining a flashlight and looking around in the area that used to be Sheila's living room. Holt shook hands with Matt and looked at the pictures that the private eye had taken along with the evidence collected. They then squatted down and began talking about the burn patterns on the floor. The captain of the unit that had responded to the fire walked up to join them and the three continued to talk about what had happened. Matt turned the evidence he had collected over to Holt and the two went to the Fire Marshal's car to download the pictures from Matt's phone onto a computer. A few minutes later, Matt and Holt shook hands again and Matt returned to the patrol car, followed a moment later by Holt.

"Sheila, what did these guys look like?" Matt had pulled out his notebook and was leaning on the hood of Larry's car.

"Well, they were white, probably about 25 or so, one had real short hair like a crew cut, the other had hair about the length of yours. Both were wearing blue jeans. The guy with the short hair was kind of blonde, and the other guy had black hair. The crew cut guy was probably about six feet tall and the other one about four inches shorter. The shorter guy was wearing a black leather jacket over a white t-shirt and the other one was wearing a navy blue thermal-type top." She was shaking as if cold, and Matt pulled off his denim shirt, removing the ID from the front and put it around her and gave her a hug.

"You know, you're about the best witness I think I've ever talked to, Sheila." He gave her a smile and then turned to Larry. "Is there a detective on the way out here?"

"Supposed to be, but you would think he would be here by now. Let me see who they've assigned to it." He tilted his head and began talking into the microphone on his shoulder. "Jenkins got caught up behind a wreck."

Matt nodded and looked around, then pulled out his phone and called the detective. "Hey Lee, it's Houston. Look I'm out here at the fire scene. Would it be okay with you if I took Sheila to the ranch and you came up there to interview her? Yeah, it's about wrapped up here. Uh huh. Alright then, I'll put a pot of coffee on and we'll see you. 'Bye." He turned back to Larry. "He'll be meeting us at the ranch." Turning to look at what was left of the house, Matt spied something and took off running back down that way.

"Oh my God, it's Chantilly!" Sheila stood up and took off following Matt, who was headed back up the hill carrying a puppy.

"Does this belong to you?" He held out the dog to the nurse, who burst into a fresh round of tears.

"Oh, I thought she was dead! Ohhhh!" She hugged the little dog to her.

"Let's take her up here and get a good look at her, okay?" Matt led her up to Larry's car where they shone a flashlight on the pup trying to see if she was hurt. "I'm not seeing anything. She seems to be fine." The dog was licking Sheila's face and then turned to Matt. "Easy there baby girl. Calm down." He patted the dog. "I don't think we're going to be able to get anything out of there, at least not now. We'll come back and take a look after the sun is up and things have a chance to cool down a little bit." He looked over at Capt. Holt. "Is that okay with you?"

"Yeah, I'll probably be here anyway. I'll see you then." He turned to Sheila. "Mrs. Wentworth, I'm very sorry about your husband. Houston here was telling me about you two. I want you to know we'll do everything we can to find these jerks." He shook her hand.

"Thank you, Captain." She was still sobbing and shaking.

"Alright, let's get you to the ranch and get started on this." Houston put an arm around Sheila and took CJ by the hand and headed down toward his truck.

"You know, he is one amazing guy." Larry watched as Matt walked away.

"Yep, I'm finding that out. I was quizzing him about the scene up there and he didn't miss a thing. Pretty impressive." Holt watched the three as they got into Matt's truck.

"CJ said he aced his exam."

"Yep, his instructor called me. You know he was the only one in there who did – and the rest of the students are all fire fighters." He shook his head and walked back down to talk to the fire captain, leaving Larry to think about what he had said.


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER 2**

It was almost 6:00am by the time Houston parked the truck at the ranch. They got out and headed into the kitchen where they were met not only by Bo and Lamar, but Kathy Hoyt as well. She had gotten to know Sheila a couple of weeks earlier when the nurse had been assigned to take care of her dad.

"Miss Sheila, I'm really sorry." Kathy and the nurse hugged.

"Thank you, sweetie."

Matt pulled out a chair for the nurse as CJ poured coffee for them. After returning from the den with his laptop, the private investigator began entering information into it about the case so far. He took a sip of coffee and looked at Sheila. "I know this is going to be hard to talk about, but the sooner we get started the sooner we can try to catch these creeps." The nurse nodded. "Alright, close your eyes and think back. When you heard something the first time and you got up to look out, what exactly did you see?"

"The car. It was a four door older sedan – probably a good ten years old. Gray or silver, I think." She opened her eyes and looked at Matt who had been putting the information in the computer.

"Good. Do you remember the make? Close your eyes and think about what you saw."

"I don't – Ford. Yeah, it was a Ford. I remember the blue oval on the front." She opened her eyes again.

Matt clicked a few keys on the computer and pulled up pictures of four door sedans from the last nine to ten years. "Do any of these look like what you saw?" He turned the computer so that she could see and scrolled the page down as she got to the bottom.

"Yeah, this one looks the most like it." Sheila pointed at a picture of a 2002 Ford Taurus.

"Great." He turned it back around and began typing again. "Okay, now you said you didn't see the license plate. But you told me you saw the blue oval. Close your eyes again and picture the blue oval – now look lower at the license plate. Do you see any numbers or letters?"

There was a pause. "There are two sevens and a two – and a D. It's a California plate." She opened her eyes and looked at Matt. "How did you know – I didn't realize that I had seen it."

"You've had a chance to calm down a little bit. That's part of it." He took a long swallow of coffee and looked across at the nurse. "And a lot of times people see things that they don't realize they have. You just have to stop and think about it." The nurse nodded at him. "Now, were the guys in the car or outside of it?"

"They were in it – I could see that." She was absolutely positive about that part.

"Okay the sound that you heard: was it from the car or something else? Did it sound like a car door closing or was it something to do with the house?" Matt leaned back in the chair. Bo and Lamar were absolutely fascinated. They had never really been around when their boss was investigating a case.

She closed her eyes again. "I think it was a car door. You know, like a whump-type sound."

"Okay. So somebody had more than likely been outside of the car." Matt leaned forward and typed something else into the computer. "Now we're going to think about smells. That first time you two went to look outside, did you smell anything out of the ordinary?"

"No." She thought about it. "But when the glass broke and the carpet was on fire I could smell something – it was like gas but not exactly."

Matt nodded. CJ knew he had something in mind but didn't want to say it in front of Sheila. A car pulled up in the driveway and Matt got up and went to the door. "Sorry it took me so long. There was one hell of a wreck. I had to stop and help with it until a traffic unit got there." Lee Jenkins followed Matt into the house. "Miss Sheila, I'm very sorry about your husband." Lee had met the nurse while visiting his boss, Michael Hoyt in the hospital.

"Thank you, detective." She took another sip of coffee. CJ poured Jenkins a cup and they sat down as Bo and Lamar got up to leave.

"Fellas, thanks for your help. I appreciate it." Matt nodded to his two ranch hands.

"Anytime Houston. Let us know if there's anything else we can do." They got up and headed out the door.

"Lee, this is what we've got so far." He turned the computer around for the detective to see.

After he read through the information, Jenkins looked at Matt. "Why didn't you just become a cop, Houston?"

Grinning, Matt took a sip of coffee. "Because sometimes I don't get along with the rules. Surely you've heard Hoyt preaching on the subject."

"Uh huh. I have, believe me." Jenkins looked back at the computer. "Can you think of anything else to add to this?"

Sheila shook her head and started to tear up. "Only this: when you find them, I want first crack at them." CJ leaned over and put an arm around her.

"Houston, will you email this to me? I'll just print it out when I get back to the office. And I'll see about the license number." Jenkins stood up and shook Matt's hand, then left.

"Excuse me for a minute; I need to make a phone call." Matt stepped outside and walked a short ways toward the barn. "Hey Rich, I've got something for you. I smelled something when we were looking at the scene. It didn't click until just a minute ago what it might be."

"Oh – what's that?" Holt was sitting in his car going through the information he had so far.

"Napalm." Matt had spent time in the Army Special Forces. Though not everyone knew it, napalm was still in use.

"Napalm – like in that movie about the Vietnam War?" Holt was shocked. "What in the hell do you know about napalm?"

"I was in Army Special Forces." Matt didn't say anything else.

"Oh." The Fire Marshal was surprised to say the least. Houston didn't really seem like the type, but now that he thought about it, it made sense. "Okay, we'll get it tested."

"Alright. I knew it smelled like something that I had been in contact with – like a gasoline smell but not exactly. And then when I asked Sheila if she had smelled anything that's what she said: "like gas but not exactly.""

"Okay, sounds like you might be on to something. Are you going to bring her back up here with you?"

"I thought she might like to see if we can find anything in there – you know – personal items." Matt kicked at the ground with the toe of his boot. He felt really bad for Sheila. She had been there for him at the hospital so many times when he had gotten shot, blown up, and hurt in so many ways. He couldn't imagine the pain that she was going through.

"I'm sure she will. I've got someone who is about to take the evidence to the lab and then I'll be going back in to check around some more."

"Okay, we'll be there. 'Bye." Matt hung up. He thought about how a Molotov cocktail with napalm could be made. It was much simpler than most folks would imagine. All the arsonist would need was a glass bottle, some gasoline, and packing peanuts. Add a rag for a wick, and it was one dangerous weapon. When the wick was lit, the bottle was thrown through the window and shattered. The napalm would stick to whatever it came in contact with and burn for up to thirty minutes, depending on the strength of it.

He walked back up to the house. "Sheila, do you feel like going back to see if we can find any of your stuff?"

The nurse stood up and nodded. CJ followed. "Matt – do you want me to go, too?" She really hated to take off and leave Kathy to take care of Catey Rose again, but she wasn't sure if she would be needed.

"No, I think we'll be okay." He leaned over and gave her a kiss, whispering in her ear. "I think we owe Kathy a bonus."

CJ nodded. "You two be careful."

"Do you mind if Chantilly stays here?" Sheila had almost forgotten about the puppy.

"Of course not. She is just the sweetest little thing." CJ bent down and patted on the dog.

"Be back as soon as I can, Babe." Matt opened the door and he and Sheila started toward the truck. He opened the door for her, then walked around and slid in behind the wheel. As they started down the driveway, the nurse looked over at him.

"I really appreciate everything you've done, Houston. I don't know how much it costs to hire you, but whatever it takes, I owe that much to Charles."

"You don't owe me a thing. After all, I'm working for the Fire Marshal's office on this one." He patted her hand. "This is the first real case I've worked on for them."

"CJ was telling me about your exam. You're a pretty smart fellow."

"I don't know about that, but it is interesting." He got quiet for a minute. "Did you and Charles buy the house or were you renting it?"

"Renting. We've found…" She stopped. Tears came to her eyes once more.

Matt stopped at a traffic light and reached over to pat her hand again. "Take your time."

She nodded, then drew in a shaky breath. "I found a house last month and we were about to sign the papers on it the day after he got home, but it failed inspection. Since the lease on my apartment was up, we decided to rent a house on a month-to-month basis so if we found a place we liked, we could move without a bunch of hassle."

"Okay, do you remember who the owner is?"

"Yeah, his name is Alex Carmichael."

Matt nodded. "It sounds like Charles was right – those guys were looking for whoever lived there before. You don't know who it was, do you?"

"No…well, that's not exactly true. We got some mail for them. I was going to take it to the post office today…I put it on top of the refrigerator last night when we got home."

They pulled up in front of the house a short time later and were met by Capt. Holt. Matt helped Sheila step up into what little was left of the house. The living room was completely burnt up, but the kitchen only had damage to the part that was closest to the living room. Matt walked over to the refrigerator and saw three envelopes on top and picked them up. All three were addressed to Rick and Melanie Potts. He handed them to Rich who put them in an evidence bag.

Turning back toward Sheila, Houston cut his eyes at Rich. The nurse was standing in what was left of the living room at the very spot where her husband had been hit by the Molotov cocktail. The captain shook his head and looked down as Matt moved over to her. "Hey, let's go look back here and see what we can find, okay? You're going to need your purse. Was it in the bedroom?" She nodded as tears silently streaked down her face. Luckily the flames had not spread into the bedroom. The quick response of the fire department had spared that room. Most of the items that Sheila and Charles had moved into the house were still in boxes stacked along the walls of the bedroom. "Looks like most of what you still had packed is okay." He put an arm around her. "I'm gonna call Bo and Lamar and get them to bring a trailer out here – we'll load it up for you and take it to the ranch – if that's okay." He spied her purse lying on the dresser and handed it to her.

Sheila broke down again and Matt pulled her into a hug. "C'mon now, hon. Look, why don't you go have a seat out here? When the guys get here we'll take care of it for you." He led her back out to his truck and opened the door for her. As she sat down, she once again broke down. Matt hugged her and patted on her back until she calmed down a little bit. Rich walked over with a bottle of water and handed it to her. "Can you stay here with her for a minute?" Matt pulled out his phone and took a few steps away from the truck and made the call to Bo. After a couple of minutes he hung up and walked back over. "Alright, the boys are hooking up a trailer and are on their way." Turning to Rich, Matt patted Sheila on the shoulder. "Let me tell you something. This lady right here is sharp – we've gotten a good bit of information together since we went to the house. She even remembered part of the license plate and the make of the car. I'll send it to you once we get back." Rich nodded and smiled at Sheila.

"Houston, I can't stay there – I don't want to put you and CJ out." Sheila blew her nose on the bandana that Matt had handed her.

"Put us out? You do realize how many rooms are in that house, don't you? Unless you plan on sleeping in more than six rooms at a time, you won't be putting us out." He gave her a smile. "Besides, it'll be like old times." That made Sheila smile. "You know, I about drove her crazy last year after I got hurt in a bomb blast. She was my private nurse." The pair laughed thinking back.

"Somehow I don't find that too hard to believe." Holt had heard about the bombing of the Houston Building the year before and was surprised that Matt had recovered so well.

Bo and Lamar arrived with the trailer a short time later and they along with Matt loaded the items that were in the bedroom. When the last box went onto the trailer he walked up to the truck. "Sheila, What about the stuff in the kitchen – pots, pans, the fridge?"

Rich stepped forward. "Can I give you a piece of advice?" He looked at Sheila. "That fridge is probably toast – pardon the pun. It got hit with a lot of water and I doubt that it will work."

She nodded. Matt spoke up. "You know, we're out of room on the trailer, but I bet we can get the other stuff in the back seat here." He patted on the roof of the truck. "Is that okay with you?"

"Sure, I'll come down…" She stopped and the tears welled up again.

"Let us take care of it, okay?" Matt patted her hand. "You just take it easy. This time I get to take care of you – deal?" The nurse nodded as the tears flowed. Capt. Holt stayed with her and they began talking.

Matt walked back down and Bo and Lamar went into the kitchen with him to get the equipment out. "I can't believe anybody would do that to these folks." Lamar shook his head as they stacked a load of pans in Bo's arms.

"I don't know, but I'm sure as hell going to find out." Matt looked around in the kitchen to see if there was anything that they had missed, then walked back into the bedroom and took another look. He opened up the closet door to double check, and it was then that he saw something. There was a dirty hand print at the back of the closet on the wall. Matt pulled his gloves out of his back pocket and began pushing on the wall just above and below the handprint and the wall slowly began to move. He removed a flashlight from his back pocket and shone it around inside the space. "Son of a … RICH! YOU NEED TO GET DOWN HERE!"


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER 3**

Rich Holt took off down the hill to join Matt. When he got there, the private eye showed him what he had found. Inside the makeshift storage space was a stash of large bricks of marijuana, kilos of cocaine, and several styrofoam boxes of what appeared to be heroin. "Holy cow!" The Fire Marshal looked at Matt. "How in the world did you find it?"

Houston pulled the "door" back toward him. "I saw the handprint and got curious." He grinned at Holt. "I know a guy at the DEA – want me to call him?"

"Yeah, I'm definitely not an expert on that. Damn!" He shook his head. Matt pulled out his phone and dug up the number that he had for Carl Roper. As the call was going through he snickered. "What?" Rich looked up at him.

"I guess he'll talk to me. I kinda almost stole one of their helicopters a while back." He rolled his eyes and smiled. "Hey Roper, it's Houston. No, I don't need a helicopter at the moment but I just found something that I know you'll be interested in. Oh, how about – what do you think, Rich? I'd say there are probably ten or so bricks of pot, at least that many of coke, and a butt load of what I think is heroine. Want the address?" He gave the agent the address and hung up. "I can guarantee you Sheila didn't have anything to do with this. I'm going to send her back with the guys – there's no point in her hanging around here any longer than she has to." He went back up the hill and told Sheila what he had found.

"No way! So that's what those jerks were after? Why in the hell didn't they just come back when we were gone and get it? Oh my God!" Tears fell from her eyes but they were tears of anger this time. "You just wait till I get my hands on those…OHHHHH!" She hit the dashboard of the truck.

"Easy now. Don't take it out on the Dream Truck." Matt hugged her. "Look, I've got a guy from the DEA on the way over here, but you don't need to stick around for that. Why don't you ride back with Lamar and Bo here and get some rest, okay?"

"I want you to get these guys, Houston." She got out of the truck and Matt walked her back to the truck that his two ranch hands had brought.

"Just go on back to the house and get settled in and I'll be along as soon as I can." He helped her into the truck. "Have the guys take your clothes and all up to one of the rooms." Matt leaned on the door. "And promise me you'll get some rest, okay?" Sheila nodded. "You boys take care of her for me."

"We will. You know it." Lamar got behind the wheel and Bo slid in next to Sheila. Matt watched as they pulled away.

"Guess I better call Jenkins and let him know what's up." Matt pulled out his phone again and called the detective.

"Holy…damn, Houston! Hoyt is right – you're like a lightning rod for trouble." He laughed. "I'm on my way."

Matt walked to the back of the truck, dropped the tailgate, and stretched out covering his eyes with the ball cap. Holt followed and took a seat on the tailgate, glancing back over at the private investigator. "Are you comfortable?"

"Yep." Houston raised the bill of the cap and grinned at Rich. "CJ and I went out for the first time since – I don't know when. Got in at 2:00. Then I got the phone call at 4:00am." Lowering the bill back over his face he settled in, crossing his feet and propping them on the corner of the truck bed.

"Oh, well I wish my night had been so glamorous. I fell asleep on the couch watching football and woke up to the phone ringing about 4:30." He laughed.

"Hell, half the time CJ and I fall asleep watching movies." Matt snickered.

By the time Lee Jenkins pulled up, Matt was snoring. The police detective got out and walked up to the two men. "Is it naptime?"

"He had a hot date with his wife last night. Got in at two and got called out at four." Rich looked over at Matt.

"Have you seen his wife?" Lee grinned. "I bet he didn't go to sleep at two."

"That's a little bit personal, don'tcha think?" Matt raised the cap off of his face grinning and sat up stretching. "Took you long enough." He hopped down off of the tailgate. Looking over his shoulder at Rich, he grinned. "There's never a cop around when you need one."

"Stow it, PI." Jenkins growled at Houston while he and Rich followed the private eye down to the house. "Wow - that is a haul."

"I can't wait to see Roper's face." Matt gave them a big grin. "Speak of the devil…" He waved Roper on down.

"What in the heck happened here?" The DEA agent looked at the charred house. "Oh boy, yeah that's a stash alright. Damn! Not the biggest I've ever seen but certainly not what I expected. So what's the story?"

Matt and Rich explained what had happened and showed the agent where the Molotov cocktails had been thrown through the window. "What I can't figure out is why they tried to burn the house down? If they knew the stuff was in there you would think they would just break in and get it. That's a lot of money there."

"And you said a guy named Alex Carmichael owns the house?" Roper was taking pictures of the stash. "I've got some containers in my car to carry this stuff in. Hope I've got enough."

"I've got some contractor's bags if you need them." Jenkins looked around the neighborhood. Several people were standing at the ends of their driveways watching the show.

"Well, I'd say we better get everything packed up." Matt pointed up at the sky. "Looks like we're about to get some rain." The four men walked back up to retrieve the containers and bags and then began counting and loading the drugs. By the time they were done, it was discovered that there were fourteen thirty pound blocks of marijuana, twenty kilos of cocaine, and twelve pounds of heroin. "I don't know much about the business, but I'm thinking that somebody is in some deep trouble with their boss. That's a lot of product to lose." Matt raised up the ball cap and scratched the back of his head as rain drops began to fall from the sky.

"You're probably right. We may well be finding a few bodies in the next couple of days." Roper closed the trunk of his car as two LAPD patrol cars pulled up to escort him to his office. "Guys, I appreciate you cluing me in on this. Whatever I find out I'll be sure to give you." They all shook hands and as the DEA agent started to leave he yelled over at Houston. "Life is never dull around you, is it?"

Matt just waved and slid behind the wheel of his truck. As he started the engine he looked at the clock: it was almost 4:00. Driving home, he thought about Sheila. She had told him one time that she wasn't able to have kids but loved them. He also thought about how she had been ready to take on Elizabeth, his ex-fiancée, after he had been injured in the bomb blast. She was a smart and tough lady with a heart of gold.

When Houston got home, he walked into the kitchen to find CJ busy working on supper and Sheila feeding Catey Rose. He hadn't even seen his daughter that day and she got excited when he walked in, waving her arms in the air and squealing. After giving CJ a kiss, he walked over kissed his daughter on the top of her head. Chantilly was sitting next to the high chair waiting for anything that the baby dropped. "Is she giving you a hard time?" Matt sat down in one of the kitchen chairs after grabbing a glass of lemonade.

"No, she's been a perfect little lady. And she really likes to eat, too." Sheila gave Catey another spoonful of baby food which was promptly gobbled down.

Matt looked down at the dog. "Chantilly, I believe you're going to go hungry at this rate. We better make sure you get some supper." He reached down and began patting on the pup who came closer and put her paws on his knee. "How are you doing?" Matt looked over at Sheila.

She reached up and wiped the baby's chin and handed her a bottle. "I'm just…I don't know. Numb I guess. It just doesn't seem real."

Houston nodded and continued to pet on the dog, scratching behind her ears and around her neck. "Well, Agent Roper thinks there may be some bodies showing up after what happened. That was a lot of dope for somebody to lose." Although he hoped they could catch the men who had killed Charles the thought of some swift justice from a drug supplier seemed like a pretty good option.

Catey put the bottle down and held out her arms to Sheila. "Are you all done, sweetie pie?" The nurse unfastened the lap belt on the chair and pulled out the baby. Catey laid her head on the woman's shoulder and patted on her arm. "You're a sweetie, just like your mama and daddy aren't you Catey?"

"Huh, I can remember a few times you didn't think I was so sweet." Matt cut his eyes over at the nurse and CJ laughed.

"Oh, I always knew you were sweet – but there's a whole lotta stubborn mixed in there." She looked over at Matt and Catey held out her arms to her dad who reached over and took her.

"You two have got time for your ride before supper if you want." CJ knew Matt wouldn't turn down his nightly horseback ride with Catey.

"Well alright then, Miss Catey Rose. Mama says we can go ride. Are you ready?" He got up and headed out the door with her.

"Ride? What kind of ride?" Sheila got up and looked out the kitchen door.

"On Cricket." CJ wiped her hands on the kitchen towel. "Come on, this is something you've gotta see." As they walked down toward the barn, she watched as Matt climbed the fence to the pasture. Cricket came running across the field and slowed as she reached the pair.

"He's not gonna – oh my Lord!" Sheila couldn't believe Matt was getting on the horse without a saddle, not to mention the fact that he was holding his six and a half month old daughter in his arms. "He can't – well hell; I guess he can." She watched in amazement as Matt sat Catey down on the horse in front of him and Cricket slowly began walking around the pasture. Catey had two handfuls of the horse's mane and was giggling and cooing as they rode around the pasture. "That is a sight to see for sure." She shook her head. "CJ, you are a lucky woman."

"Believe me, I know it." They leaned on the fence and watched as the three made their way back over to the fence, Cricket cautiously walking and Matt and Catey both smiling. When Cricket stopped next to the fence Matt handed his daughter to CJ and then he and Cricket went for their own ride around the pasture, this time at a faster pace. When they got back up to the fence, Matt patted the horse and slid over onto the top rail before popping Cricket on the backside and watching her run, kicking up her heels as she took off across the pasture.

"And you do that every day?" Sheila was watching as Matt paid attention to the other horses.

"Yep. They get upset if we miss for some reason." He scratched the jaw of CJ's horse Lucy and then swatted her rump.

"They – as in the horse and Catey?" The nurse couldn't believe her ears.

"Yeah, I think they might just be a little spoiled." He turned around and jumped down from the fence, taking Catey back in his arms and putting her up on his shoulders before heading back up to the house with the two women.

Later on that evening, Matt and Catey were in his recliner finishing up the last bottle of the day as CJ and Sheila were quietly talking on the other end of the couch. CJ looked up to see if Catey was ready for bed. Apparently Matt was ready, too: both were zonked out. Catey had her arms around her dad's neck and Matt's chin was resting on her head. Chantilly was up in the recliner with her head on Matt's leg asleep as well. "I've got to get a picture of this." CJ got up and eased over to the trio and quietly took a couple of pictures with her phone. As she tried to pick Catey up to put the baby in her crib, the little girl tightened her grip on Matt's neck and he squeezed her closer with his arms. She looked over at Sheila and shrugged her shoulders.

"I think they would be okay." The nurse got up and walked over to the where they lay sleeping. "That is so cute." She sniffled. "Charles and I always wanted a family – but I wasn't able to have children." CJ patted her arm before taking the afghan off of the back of the couch and covering them with it.

"How about a cup of tea?" CJ headed toward the kitchen where the two heated water and sat down at the kitchen table. As she took a sip, she looked up at Sheila.

"I don't know what to do." The nurse put her head in her hands. "I keep hoping that this is all just a nightmare and that I'll wake up and everything will be okay." She shook her head. "When Charles was deployed I always knew that there was a chance that he could be killed. That's just part of being a Marine Corps wife. But I never thought something like this would happen. It's absolutely insane."

CJ reached over and squeezed her hand. "I don't know what to say. It's just…unbelievable." Both women sipped their tea in silence. "I want you to know that you're welcome to stay here as long as you want. Matt thinks the world of you and so do I."

"I appreciate that, CJ." She took another sip of the tea. "I wanted to ask Houston earlier, but…do you have any idea when they will let me bury Charles?" Her chin quivered.

"That depends on how long it takes them to do the autopsy. We'll talk to Lee Jenkins tomorrow and see if he will get in contact with someone at the ME's office. Part of it has to do with how much of a workload they have." She didn't want to tell Sheila, but sometimes it took a few days for an autopsy to be completed.

She nodded. "You know Charles and I only had each other. His brother passed away a couple of years ago – cancer." Sheila took another sip of tea. "The only family I ever had was my grandmother." The nurse smiled. "Grandma passed away when I was twenty. She was a feisty lady, but really sweet. Everything had to be just so with her. There wasn't any doing something halfway. You did it the right way." Taking another sip of tea, she leaned forward and put her arms on the table. "Mrs. Novelli reminds me of her a lot."

CJ smiled. "Mama is a special lady. She's like a mother to Matt and me. Both of my parents died when I was young and I went to live with my uncle." She made a face. "The only good thing about that was Matt." She explained how they had met at the age of ten and how the boy that would later become her husband had gotten up every day at four in the morning to do his chores on his dad's ranch and then come over to help CJ with hers. That had continued on until they both left for college. "My uncle was…" She laughed. "As Matt so eloquently put it on the day we met: "a mean-hearted son-of-a-gun". He hated kids. If it hadn't been for the Houstons I would probably have run away. Bill, Matt's dad, was like a father to me." CJ took another sip of tea. "Of course he was also the first one to tell us that we needed to get married." She laughed and shook her head.

"What about the rest of Houston's family? I've never heard him talk about his mother, just his dad." Sheila sat back in the chair.

"Well, he never knew his mother. The night he was born she was about a month away from delivering. She was hit by a drunk driver and died from her injuries an hour after Matt was born." She didn't go into all the details of how Houston's biological father had turned him over to Bill Houston the day after he was born.

"Wow - that is sad. But from what I've heard him say, his dad did a great job."

"He was a good man." They both got quiet as they finished the tea.

"I guess I better try to get some sleep." Sheila stood up and took the cup over to the sink and rinsed it out before putting it into the dishwasher.

"Well if you need anything you know where I'll be." CJ rinsed her cup out and made sure that the door was locked and the alarm was set before turning out the light and heading back through the den. None of the three in the recliner had moved an inch. She whispered to Sheila. "I think Chantilly has a new friend."

The nurse nodded and smiled. "She could do a lot worse."

Matt woke up about 1:00am and carefully got out of the recliner to put Catey in her crib. As he started back through the hallway, he looked down to find Chantilly following right behind him. "Looks like we need to change a diaper, Chantilly." Gently laying his daughter down on the changing table, Matt pulled out a clean diaper and some baby wipes along with powder and took care of the diaper change. After snapping the legs of the sleeper, he carefully picked up the still-sleeping Catey and put her in her crib, then walked out the door. Looking back to see where the puppy was, he smiled as his eyes found her in the nearly-dark nursery: she was lying directly underneath the crib curled up in a ball. "'Night, Tilly."


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER 4**

Matt woke up early Sunday morning. Like every morning, CJ was lying with her head on his chest and her left arm across his belly and his left arm was wrapped around her. Carefully, he slid out of the bed and went to the shower, thinking about the case. He needed to talk to Lee Jenkins and follow up on the partial license plate, as well as see if they had a hit on any of the fingerprints that had been collected. Carl Roper had taken the makeshift door to the DEA office for processing and Matt was wondering if they had a hit on the hand print yet, as well as any finger prints that might have been found on the packages of drugs.

Getting out of the shower, Matt dried off and made his way into the bedroom and started pulling out clothes. As he started getting dressed it occurred to him that he hadn't checked into Alex Carmichael who was the owner of the home that Sheila and Charles had been renting, nor had he checked on Rick and Melanie Potts, the former tenants. He usually took Sundays off, but not this time. Finding Charles' killers was number one on his list of priorities at the moment. Sliding on his boots, Matt glanced back over his shoulder at CJ who was still peacefully sleeping. He gently leaned over and kissed her cheek, then picked up the pad of paper next to the bed and left her a note.

**GOOD MORNING, BABE. I'M GOING IN TO THE OFFICE TO WORK ON THE CASE. LET ME KNOW IF Y'ALL NEED ANYTHING. **

**LOVE,**

**MATT**

He left the note propped up on his pillow and quietly left the room, stopping to look into the nursery to check on Catey. Chantilly was in the same exact spot under the crib, and came to Matt when he stuck his head in the door. The private investigator stretched then made his way into the kitchen, turned on the coffee pot, and sat down at the kitchen table to make a list of the things that he needed to do that day. Chantilly had followed him into the kitchen and was sitting at the door. "Guess it's time to go out, huh?" He got up and opened the door, stepping out on the patio as the pup took off for a grassy area. When she had finished, Matt let her back in the house and found a package of cinnamon rolls, filled up a travel mug with coffee, and started munching on one of the pastries. The dog was watching him closely. After he finished the first roll he reached into the package for another. "I'll share with you but I get the part in the center." He handed the dog a couple of pieces which were eagerly gobbled up. Getting up from the table, Matt refilled his mug and headed for the door. "Take care of my ladies, Tilly." With that he walked out the door and got behind the wheel of his truck.

On the drive to the office his phone rang. He looked at the caller ID: Jenkins. "Hey, I was about to call you. Did you get anything?"

"Yes and no. The partial on the plate came back with twenty four hits. Out of those, three are silver or gray Ford Tauruses. So I'm going to be checking into the owners of those today. As far as prints, nothing yet, but the lab is working on them. How about you?"

"I'm planning on checking on the guy that owns the property, an Alex Carmichael, and I'm also going to check on the couple that used to live there - Rick and Melanie Potts. I wonder if Roper has had any luck with anything yet. If we can get a match on the hand print from the fake door we might get a big break."

"Okay, I'll call you if I get anything. Are you going to be at your office?" Jenkins was filling up a styrofoam cup with coffee at the police station.

"Yeah, for a while anyway. I may end up going to pay a visit to some of the folks that are on my list today. Depends on what I find. I'll call you." Matt hung up and took a sip of coffee from his travel mug while sitting at a red light. He had forgotten to ask Jenkins if the autopsy on Charles had been finished, so he dialed the detective. "Hey, I meant to ask you: do you know if they're done with the autopsy?"

"I don't know. I'll call you back in a few." Jenkins hung up and went to his desk to find the number for the ME's office.

Matt reached the parking garage of Houston Industries a few minutes later and rode up in the elevator to his penthouse office. Stepping over the back of the couch, he sat down and pulled up BABY. The computer normally remained hidden under the top of the coffee table. When it was turned on a familiar phrase popped up on the screen: HIYA, BOSS! "Good morning, BABY. We've got some work to do." He started with Alex Carmichael. The landlord was thirty one years old, divorced three times, and the father of two children – ages ten and six. Matt ran a property search on him. Carmichael owned twenty three properties all of which were single family houses except for two sets of apartments. The first had twelve units and the second one had a hundred. "He's making a pretty good chunk of money off of that stuff." The private eye did a little more looking into the landlord. He was curious how he had managed to buy all of the properties. Granted, good deals could be picked up here and there because of auctions and foreclosures. After a few more minutes of working the keyboard, Matt had managed to get a look at the financial dealings of Carmichael. Nothing seemed out of place, so the private eye switched gears and began looking at the Potts.

Rick and Melanie Potts had been married for four years. They didn't have any children, and had lived in the rental house for not quite a year before they were evicted for non-payment of rent. They were four months behind when the eviction order was granted and the landlord had removed their belongings from the house with the supervision of the Sheriff's Department and had changed the locks. Matt leaned back on the couch and took a long swallow of the coffee. He had tried to check on the couple's finances but had been unable to find anything. _Guess I'll be going to the police station. _The private investigator stood up and stretched and headed for the elevator after shutting down the computer.

Pulling into the parking garage of the precinct, Matt pulled his ID off of the visor and clipped it onto his shirt pocket. He walked into the lobby to find a young officer manning the records counter. Evidently Sgt. Bob Peterson had the weekend off. The private eye introduced himself and showed the man his ID, but he refused to give Matt access to the files. "Would you call Det. Lee Jenkins and ask him about it, please?" After shooting Houston a disgruntled look he dialed up the extension and spoke with the detective. Although Matt couldn't hear the other end of the conversation, he saw the face of the young cop turn red and heard the repeated "Yes, sir" about four times.

"Det. Jenkins says to get whatever you need and that he talked to Lt. Hoyt a few minutes ago – you're welcome to use his office and he would appreciate it if you would call him at your earliest convenience, sir." Officer Reeves stepped over to the end of the counter and opened the gate for Matt.

"Thanks." Matt walked on through and went to the computer terminal and typed in the names that he needed information on. There was no record on Carmichael whatsoever, but both Rick and Melanie Potts had records. He jotted down the numbers and went straight to where they were located, leaving Reeves to stand watching him in surprise.

"You look like you've done that a lot." He gave Matt a shy smile.

"Yep, a few years now. Thanks for your help…and don't worry about having to make the phone call upstairs. You were doing what you were told and you didn't know me from Adam." He held out his hand and Reeves shook it and smiled.

"Well I sure know now – Det. Jenkins made it crystal clear. Have a good day, sir."

Matt left the area and headed over to catch the elevator up to the fourth floor. As he stepped off, he walked over to the coffee pot and refilled his travel mug, then went into Hoyt's office and flipped on the light. It didn't appear that anyone had been in the room since the lieutenant had been shot a couple of weeks back.

Sitting down behind his friend's desk, Matt picked up the phone and called the lieutenant. "Hey, how ya doin' bud?" He took a sip of coffee and propped his feet up.

"I'm about to go stir crazy, that's how I'm doing. And what are you doing with your feet up on my desk?" Hoyt did indeed sound like he was about to go around the bend.

"They aren't on your desk. I'm not even sitting down yet." Matt just grinned.

"Damn! How come that stuff works for you but not for me?" The lieutenant sounded pretty strong.

"Because I'm me, that's how. So are those bullet holes going away?" Speaking as someone who had been shot more times than he cared to remember, Matt knew that by this point his friend was probably suffering from a lot of itching.

"Oh let's see: Anne is threatening to duct tape mittens on my hands if I don't stop scratching." Michael sounded truly miserable and the private eye could sympathize with him.

"Look at it this way: at least you don't have a couple of casts on. Those really do itch."

"How is Sheila doing? Jenkins called me yesterday and let me know what happened."

"She's doing. It's a heavy blow. Larry told me that she managed to drag her husband outside and put out the flames but he was dead by that time. Did Lee tell you what we found yesterday?"

"No, he told me what YOU found yesterday. I swear, Houston, you can step in a pile of horse dung and come out smelling like a rose."

"Kinda brings a whole new meaning to tiptoe through the tulips, huh?" The private investigator chuckled. "I called Roper and he came down to join the show."

"Bet he made sure all the helicopters were locked up before he left." Hoyt snickered thinking back to the time that Matt took off in one of the DEA's Blackhawk helicopters without permission.

"Funny. Anyway, I'm about to go through the records of the couple that was evicted from the house before Sheila and Charles moved in. The landlord seems clean: at least I haven't found anything on him yet, but the tenants look kinda shady."

"Well, if you need me for anything…"

"All I need you to do is heal up so we can get some hunting done next month. Or have you changed your mind?" Matt had invited Hoyt to go deer hunting down at the ranch just outside of Houston. "That reminds me: I've got a couple of things for you to look at. Maybe you can stop scratching long enough to watch 'em."

"No, I really would like to go. I think I'll be able to by then."

"Alright, well I'm going to get some work done. You stay outta trouble, ya hear? And thanks for letting me use your office."

"Hell – it's half yours now anyway. Talk to you later."

Matt took a swig of coffee then opened up the file on Rick Lucas Potts, age 42. _Looks like he lives up to his name _the private eye thought to himself. The man had been arrested several times for possession and once for possession with intent. He had done a little time for that plus a DUI. Matt opened Melanie Potts file. "Whoa!" Melanie Darlene Potts was 44 and looked like she was at least 60. There were several possession arrests, a couple for solicitation, and one for manslaughter. She had gotten out of prison about a year ago, right before she and her husband had rented the house. Matt saw that she was known to have associated with Doug Hayes who was one of the biggest drug suppliers in town.

Stepping out into the squad room, he spied Lee Jenkins sitting at his desk and went to him. "I just found something interesting here. Melanie Potts is known to have had business with Doug Hayes."

"Do tell?" Jenkins took a swig of coffee. "That is very interesting. Have you heard anything from Roper on those prints yet?"

"Nope, I was going to ask you." Matt sat down on the corner of the desk.

"Well I guess you should call him." Jenkins sat back as Matt pulled out his cell phone and dialed the number and hit the speaker button.

"Hey Houston, I was about to call you. Wasn't sure how early you would be up." The DEA agent was looking at the reports on the evidence that had been brought in the day before.

"Been up for almost three hours now, Mr. Federal Employee." He winked at Jenkins. "Bet I could have slipped in and stolen six or seven choppers from you by now."

"Nah, they've got anti-Houston devices on 'em now." Roper chuckled. "We got a hit on some of the prints. They came back to a Mel…"

"Melanie Potts." Matt finished the sentence for him.

"Okay, how did you know?"

"She and her husband Rick lived there until they were evicted a few weeks ago. Where were her prints?"

"On every single package of drugs that we found as well as the styrofoam chests that the heroin was in, but the hand print belonged to her husband. That was the only one of his that we found."

"Guess he was being a gentleman and opened the door for her. Both of the Potts have done time for drug charges, plus she had one for manslaughter. Turns out it was a john - she also got busted for solicitation."

"Real sweetheart, huh?"

"Yeah, she is that."

"So did Jenkins get anything on the car?" Roper took another swig of coffee.

"Hey, Roper. I've got it down to three possibles. I'm about to go pay a visit to them. The first is a Theodore Lang, no record whatsoever. Number two is Alecia Hernandez, no record other than a couple of speeding tickets. The third is Tony Yearly, a couple of busts for possession with intent. Obviously, he's first on my list. I don't think the other two are even worth a second look. Hang on a minute…" A patrolman had just handed Jenkins a sheet of paper. "Well this is interesting." He looked at Matt. "Remember I got held up by a car accident the other night? Yearly's car was positively identified in the hit and run."

Matt shifted on the desk. "Guess we know now why he was in such a hurry. Do they have a line on him?"

The police detective shook his head. "They've already been looking for him. But I think we have enough to get a search warrant for his house – maybe we'll find something that we can use."

"Guess I'll go with you then. Maybe we can get some info on the Potts from him. Roper, I'll call you later." Matt stood up and downed the rest of his coffee.

"Not if I call you first." The DEA agent laughed as he ended the call.

"I'll call and get started on the warrant." Jenkins hit a few buttons on his phone and started in on that.

"Need to make a call myself." Matt walked back into Hoyt's office and picked up the phone to call CJ. "Hey, how's everybody doing this morning?"

"Pretty good. Catey's kind of fussy – she's getting a couple more teeth coming in." CJ had just given the baby some pain drops and was attempting to feed her without much success.

"Well, give her a kiss for me. How's Sheila? And do you know if she called to let her boss know what's going on?"

"Pretty good – as good as can be expected I guess. She talked to them yesterday. They've got her covered. What's going on there?"

"I'm in Hoyt's office. Lee is working on getting a search warrant. We think that the guys that we're looking for were responsible for that hit and run wreck the other night that made him late getting to the scene."

"Are you going with him to serve it?" No matter how hard she tried not to, CJ still worried about Matt every time he went out with the police on a job.

"Yep. Don't worry; I'll have my vest on, Babe. Promise." He knew what was going through her mind.

"Make sure you do." There was a pause.

"Love you, Babe. Better get going."

"Love you, too. Matt – be extra careful, okay?"

"Yes, ma'am. 'Bye." He hung up and turned off the light to the office and closed the door behind him.


	5. Chapter 5

**CHAPTER 5**

Houston parked his truck a block up from the home of Tony Yearly. It was in a rough-looking neighborhood; every house within sight had bars on the doors and windows and fenced in yards. Matt had seen several eyes staring out of blinds on either side of the street. Before he had left the parking garage of the police station, the private eye had put on his bullet proof vest and holster, checking the magazine to make sure it was full. As the SWAT truck pulled up, Matt slid out of the truck and walked around to the other side of it. He was joined by Lee Jenkins and Lt. Brad Langston. Langston was in charge of the team that had been assigned to help with the warrant.

"Planning on trouble?" Matt pulled on his black gloves and looked at Jenkins.

"The last time somebody tried to serve a warrant on him it got messy – three cops down. I'm not taking any chances this time." The detective checked his pistol and introduced Houston and Langston.

"Nice to meet you. I've heard a lot about you over the years. Vince Novelli and I graduated from the academy together." The two men shook hands. "I sure do miss having him around."

"I do, too, but I still get my fill of pizza and lasagna – he and his mom re-opened the restaurant – in Hawaii." Matt grinned. "My wife and I got married on the beach out back and had our reception there."

"So he's doing okay, huh? Glad to hear that. I might just have to pay him a visit next time I go on vacation." He nodded to the other members of the SWAT team. "Alright boys, let's hit it." The truck looked like a black fire engine but had bulletproof glass in the cab, room for passengers in back and had closed storage bays on the outside. Matt, Jenkins, and the lieutenant moved along on the driver's side of the truck, using it for cover as they drew closer to the house. The other members of the team were in the back of the rig, ready to jump out and approach the house on signal. As soon as the truck stopped, the team emerged and headed up to the house, jumping over the chain link fence. Four men headed to the back of the house, two men were assigned to each of the sides, and three others along with Lt. Langston, Lee Jenkins, and Matt went straight for the front door.

"POLICE! SEARCH WARRANT! OPEN UP!" Lt. Langston stood to the right side of the door as he knocked, while Matt and Lee were on the left hand side, pistols drawn, flanked by a team member with a battering ram that was thirty five inches long and weighed thirty five pounds. The all-steel ram was not only capable of forcing doors, but could breach concrete or brick walls. Another team member was holding a pry bar, ready to pop open the security door. The sound of people scrambling inside the house was clearly heard. Langston made the announcement once more and when the door wasn't opened, he gave the signal to the team members to breach the doors and the team at the back did the same.

As soon as the doors were opened the SWAT members poured inside, yelling to the occupants to hit the floor. As Matt entered alongside Jenkins, he couldn't believe how many people were in the house. There were at least thirty just in the living room. The officers began clearing the house and within a minute it quieted down. Matt and Jenkins were looking for Yearly but weren't seeing him. They were however, seeing large amounts of all kinds of drugs: marijuana, heroin, crack, and meth – pretty much a whole pharmacy. "Looks like I need to call Narco in here." Jenkins pulled out his phone and made the call as Matt began going room to room looking for their suspect, but came back without him. He met up with Jenkins outside on the front porch.

"He's not in there." Matt holstered his gun. As the occupants of the house were brought out and placed onboard busses from the police department, the private eye spotted Rick Potts. "Whoa, hold on there – we want to talk to this one." Potts' head snapped in Matt's direction. Looking somewhat puzzled, he was led aside where Jenkins and Houston proceeded to question him. "Where are your wife and Tony Yearly?"

"I don't know." Potts looked back and forth between the two.

"She's not here, but I'm willing to bet she has been. Now where is she?" Jenkins leaned in toward the man.

"She's nowhere. I'm not telling you anything." He spat at the ground.

"Okay, no problem." Matt started walking away. At the top of his lungs he started in: "Potts, we sure do appreciate your cooperation on this. I really don't think any of this would have been possible without you."

There was a collective growl from the men and women being brought out and loaded onto the busses. "Man, I didn't say a word!" Potts was turning bright red.

"Aw c'mon now! There's no need to be modest – you were just doing your civic duty, isn't that right?" Matt continued on. "I'm sure all of these fine folks will end up thanking you for this – in their own little way – am I right folks?" A large booing and hissing came from the prisoners.

"Man, shut up! You're gonna get me killed!" The man looked ready to bawl.

Matt walked back over, lowering his voice to a gravelly growl. "Unless you tell us what we want, I'll make sure you get put into the cell with the meanest of these SOB's. Now start talking."

"Man, they're going to kill me now because of you!" Potts broke down into sobs.

"Aww, you made him cry, Houston! Shame on you!" Jenkins was having a terrible time trying not to laugh. Langston had been watching the whole show from the front porch and was nearly in tears himself from the show that Matt was putting on.

"Okay, Lee: which one of these guys should we shackle him to? That guy over there looks like he would just love to have some company. What do you think?"

"Jesus, you're going to get me killed! Look she was here earlier, but she and Tony took off. I don't know where. I was asleep when they left. Honest."

"Do ya think he's telling us the truth?" Houston looked at Jenkins who looked doubtful.

"I don't know…." He watched the drug dealer. "I think we need to talk a little bit more at the station." Jenkins motioned to a patrolman and told him to take him to the precinct and put him into an interrogation room. As Potts was led past the bus, the boos and jeers started again.

Langston walked over to join the pair. "Houston that was the most entertaining thing I've seen in quite a while. I see now why Novelli likes you so much." He started laughing again as he shook hands with the PI. "You ever need anything just give me a call." Still chuckling, the lieutenant headed back to the SWAT truck.

"I've been looking as these folks were brought out; none of them really match the description that Sheila gave us, but I think we would be wise to let her look through their pictures just in case. Do you think she would mind coming down?" Lee and Matt were heading back to the house to take a look around.

"No, I'm sure she'll be all for it. She would love nothing better than to get her hands on those guys and tear them apart. I'll call CJ and get her to bring Sheila down here. Although…" Matt stopped. "Catey's teething right now and she's really grumpy. I'll see if Bo or Lamar can bring her down." He sat down on the front steps of the house and called his home number. As Sheila answered, he could hear Catey fussing in the background. "Hey Sheila, do you feel like coming down to the station and looking at some mug shots?"

"Sure. But I …"

"I'll get Bo or Lamar to bring you down, is that okay?" Matt knew she didn't have her car – it had been damaged when the house burnt and was totaled.

"Okay. CJ's got her hands full right now. Poor little Catey's been miserable today dealing with her teeth. I'll be ready when they pull up."

"I'll call down and tell them. Thanks." He hung up and called Lamar and asked him to help out by giving Sheila a ride and was assured that they would be there as soon as possible.

Matt joined Jenkins inside and they, along with three techs from the crime lab and three officers from the Narco squad searched the house. They came up empty handed as far as anything to do with the arson case and headed back to the precinct. When Matt got off the elevator he saw his ranch hand and Sheila waiting for him. Lamar's eyes got big when he saw the bulletproof vest and the holster that his boss was wearing. Matt had unfastened the Velcro closures on the side of the vest but hadn't pulled it off.

"Well look at you, being all safety conscious these days." Sheila gave Matt a smile as he looked puzzled. "The vest?"

"Oh, forgot to take it off in the garage. How are you doing today, hon?" He walked over and put an arm around her and led her into Hoyt's office. Lamar followed along behind them and Lee went to get the mug shots sent up to them. "You two want some coffee?"

"Sure." Sheila sat down on the couch as did Lamar.

"What about you, Lamar?" Matt was headed back out the door.

"I could go for some." The ranch hand still looked a little surprised. When Matt came back in and handed them the cups the older man spoke up. "Uh Houston – whose office is this?"

Matt took off the vest and laid it on the back of the desk chair as he grinned at his employee. "It's Hoyt's. He said I could use it while he's gone."

"Oh, I thought maybe they had given you your own office." He had spotted the ID hanging from Matt's shirt and the PI noticed where his gaze had drifted. Unsnapping it, he handed it to Lamar. "They gave me this a while back to make getting into scenes and the building a little easier for me. I didn't get stopped too often, but when I brought the lack of security to their attention, they decided that I had earned one." He smiled. "Did I get your coffee right, Sheila?" Lamar handed the ID back and Matt replaced it on his shirt.

"You sure did. Perfect in fact. I might just have to make you my personal barista." She and Matt both laughed.

Lee stuck his head in the door. "It's probably going to be about twenty minutes or so – they were having equipment problems downstairs." He rolled his eyes, then came in the door and stood next to the nurse. "I had a message on my desk when I got back. The ME finished the autopsy and says that you can tell them where you want your husband sent and they'll set it up for you." He patted the woman's hand. "And if you need anything else, you just let me know, okay?"

Tears welled up in Sheila's eyes once more. "Thank you, Detective." Lee walked back out into the squad room to begin working on the paperwork for that day's events. He had decided to let Rick Potts cool his heels for a little while in the interrogation room.

The phone on Hoyt's desk buzzed and Matt leaned over to pick it up. "Houston. Uh huh…great. Thanks a lot, Pat." He hung up and motioned Sheila over to the desk. "They got it fixed sooner than they thought. You can look at the pictures on here." He pulled up the screen on the computer and had it set to enlarge the photos.

The nurse sat down and began scrolling through. After looking at about forty pictures she stopped and looked up at Matt. "You busted all these guys this morning?"

The private investigator nodded. "Yep, we found them at Tony Yearly's house – he's the one that owned the car – we think. We haven't found him yet, but I did find the man that lived in the house before you." He motioned to the squad room. "He's in one of the interrogation rooms."

She nodded and went back to the pictures on the screen. When she had finished, Sheila leaned back in the chair. "They aren't there."

Matt leaned over and punched a few keys on the computer. "Does this guy look like one of them?" He pulled up the last mug shot that had been taken of Yearly.

"That's him! That's the one who was driving!" She pounded her fist on the desk.

"Alright, that means we're on the right track then." He rubbed the nurse's shoulders. "You're doing great, Shelia. Hang out here for a minute; I need to ask Lee something." He had started for the door when the sound of gunshots rang out. As he bolted out the door, Matt drew his pistol and headed toward the interrogation rooms where the patrolman that had brought Potts to the station was lying in an expanding pool of blood. The suspect was in the hallway with two officers between him and the west end of the hallway where there was a door to the stairs. Matt and three detectives were on the other end of the hall. Lamar and Sheila could see the private eye's head above all the others there and could hear him talking to Potts. "Put it down, Rick. There's no way you're getting out of here…put it down before it gets any worse." He had his pistol trained on the man's head.

"No, I'm a dead man either way. If Yearly even thinks I've said anything to you I'm dead." Potts eyes were wild: bloodshot, watery, bulging, and glazed. His glance darted back and forth between Matt and the cops behind him.

"Look, if you help us out we can help you out. Put you somewhere safe. C'mon man. Put it down. We'll work it out." Matt's voice was absolutely calm, a fact that didn't go unnoticed by all of the officers present. "Aren't you worried about Melanie? She may be in danger if she's with him. We need your help to get her back safe."

Potts' eyes locked on Matt's. "Do you think so?"

"Given what we know about him, yeah – I'd say there's a good chance he'll try to kill her. Now put it down and we'll work together to settle this thing, okay?" The drug dealer slowly lowered his right hand that was holding the pistol and dropped it to the floor. "Now put your hands on the wall." Matt eased up the hallway as did the other officers. Jenkins put him back in cuffs and led him to another interrogation room as some of the others checked on the officer who had been shot. "How is he?" Houston knelt down next to the man.

"He's lost a good bit of blood but I think he'll be okay – it went right through his shoulder." The paramedics came running up the hallway and took over the care for the officer, who as it turned out had been shot with his own weapon.

Matt stood up and walked back to Hoyt's office. Lamar and Sheila were wide-eyed watching the private eye as he came back to the door and put his pistol back in his holster. "He should be okay – got hit in the shoulder." Turning toward the coffee pot, Matt grabbed a styrofoam cup and filled it up, taking a sip before coming back to the office door and walking over to the desk to have a seat. Leaning back in the chair, he propped his boots up on the desk. "Sheila, let's see if I can get somebody to help us get a composite on the other guy." He picked up the phone and called down to the ID unit and they agreed to send up a clerk to help with the composite. Hanging up the phone, he looked over at the nurse and the ranch hand. "Y'all okay?" He took another sip of coffee.

"Uh huh. Houston, how do you manage to stay so calm?" Sheila was amazed as was Lamar, who up until the day before had never seen Matt when he was working as a private investigator, much less when he was acting as a consultant to the department.

"Well, getting upset wasn't going to change anything." Houston said it so matter-of-factly that neither Lamar nor Sheila knew what to say.

Lee Jenkins stuck his head in the door just then. "Potts has agreed to talk – but only to you."

Matt stood up and headed toward the door. "Somebody is going to come up and help Sheila with a composite – do you mind?"

"No, no problem, man. Go ahead." Lee held the door open for him. Sheila and Lamar watched as he calmly walked down the hall sipping coffee and went into the interrogation room. "He can say what he wants to about not being a cop because he "doesn't get along with the rules" like he said yesterday. But whether he likes it or not – he is anyway. He just doesn't wear a badge." Jenkins walked over and sat down behind the desk.

Down the hallway, Matt stepped into the room where Potts was seated, now handcuffed to the table which was bolted to the floor. He sat down at the table across from the man, not saying anything for a minute. "So, what have you got?"

"I don't know. One of the guys there told me that Yearly and Melanie took off about 7:00. He said that he overheard them talking about trying to get another supply since the one in the house got taken." He looked down at the cuffs. "I thought he was going to kill us when he found out we got kicked out and the drugs were left behind. But he said as long as he could get them back, we were okay."

"And since he didn't get them back, you two are in hot water up to your ears. So where does he usually get his supplies?" Matt took another sip of coffee.

"I'm not sure."

"You've got to do better than that, man, or I can't help you. You know something about the supplier – you've got to." The private investigator stared directly into Potts' eyes.

"All I know is he's some Mexican guy – I heard he was from Tijuana." The man nervously looked around.

"You know, there are a lot of Mexican guys from Tijuana. You're going to have to do a hell of a lot better than that." Matt's unblinking stare was starting to have the desired effect.

"Okay, his name was Asuncion. That's all I ever heard." The handcuffs clinked against the leg of the table. The private investigator kept staring at him. Silence hung thickly in the air. Trembling, Potts looked down at the table. "He runs them up the coast in one of those submarine type deals."

"A narco-sub, huh?" Matt nodded. "Now we're getting somewhere. What else have you got?" He took another sip of coffee.

"I've told you everything I know. Now what about me?"

The whiny tone in the drug dealer's voice grated on Matt's nerves and he stood up with his hands on the table that was between the two of them. "What about you?" The PI's voice took on that deep gravelly tone. "Let's see: you're involved with some other lowlifes who are responsible for the fire-bombing and death of a US Marine. His wife has lost not only her husband, but her home, her car, and her peace of mind. That man spent the last twenty years of his life serving his country, getting shot at by terrorists, only to come home and be killed by a couple of dope dealing idiots. Do you really think I'm going to lift a finger to help you if you can't help me catch the guys who killed him? Not to mention the fact that you just shot a cop." Matt slapped the table with his right hand causing Potts to jump back in fear. "Before I even consider helping you in the slightest you better give me a lot more than you have so far – or do you not really care about Melanie? The only way I can find her is to find Yearly and his suppliers." He had Potts attention now.

"They bring the stuff onshore somewhere around Malibu. I don't know exactly where – they change it up so nobody gets suspicious."

"What else?" Matt started pacing around the room, making the dealer even more nervous, especially when he was behind him. "You know more."

Potts was quiet for a minute. "They use some kinda torpedo deal when they pick them up. I ain't sure how it works, man, that's just what I've heard. And that's all I know – I swear."

Without another word, Matt walked out of the room, leaving Potts alone, scared, and quaking in his shoes. That was just what he had intended. He met Lee as he headed back to Hoyt's office and told him what he had found out. "We need to talk to Roper and see if he's got anything that can help – and I haven't heard anything from Rich about the Molotov cocktails." He went over to the coffee pot for a refill and looked at his watch. It was almost 1:00. Sheila was still in Hoyt's office working on the composite. Matt tapped on the window and motioned for Lamar to come outside. He sat on the corner of Luis Sanchez's desk. "Bud, do you feel like making a mercy run for me?"

"A what?"

Matt laughed. "I'm starving. Could I get you to grab us some grub? Lee, you want a burger or something?" He reached back for his wallet.

"Yeah, I'm about ready to eat this phone." The detective was on the phone to Rich to see if he had found out anything else.

"Tell you what, I'll see what Sheila wants and you get yourself something, too. Alright?" He handed a hundred dollar bill to the cowboy before sticking his head into the door of the office. When there was a break in the conversation he asked Sheila what she wanted, then gave Lamar the order. "Thanks a lot, Lamar, I really appreciate it."

He pulled out his cell phone and called Roper to clue him in to what he had gotten from Potts and also what had happened that morning at Yearly's house.

"You've been busy today." Roper laughed. "There's been an ongoing battle against these submarines. It's not just the drugs that they can bring in, but there's a possibility of weapons going back."

"Not to mention the fact that if they can get drugs in here they can get people in here. And I'm not just talking about illegal immigrants. Terrorists could be coming in like that." He sat down at Sanchez's desk and rubbed his neck. There was a super-sized ache trying to creep up from his neck that had made it halfway up the back of his head.

"That's true, too. I'm going to talk to the guy we have here that kind of specializes in these subs and torpedoes. I'll call you back." He hung up and was gone.

Lee Jenkins walked over and sat down on the corner of the desk. "Rich says that your hunch about napalm was right. How in the world did you know about that? Never mind – Hoyt told me you were in Special Forces. But how did they get it?"

"They made it – packing peanuts and gasoline. That's it. The peanuts dissolve in the gas. When it crashed through the window, the bottle broke and the napalm stuck to the carpet and then Charles – you can't just wipe it off." He rubbed his eyes. "It's a miserable way to go out."

"They didn't get any prints off of the glass though – guess they were wearing gloves."

"Damn." Matt heaved a big sigh. "I think Potts has given us everything he has. He's going to have to be placed in a protective area."

"I've already set that up." The elevator dinged and he looked up. "And there's the officer that's going to transport him." He nodded to the sergeant. "He's back in three. Thanks, Joe. And those are my bracelets he's wearing." The cop walked on back down the hall and removed Potts from the room, returning Jenkins' cuffs to him before stepping onto the elevator.

Sheila finished with the clerk from the ID unit and Matt went back into Hoyt's office. "Lamar should be back in a few minutes." He sat down in the lieutenant's chair, propped his feet up on the desk once again, and tilted his head back closing his eyes.

"I'm having Charles sent to Los Angeles National Cemetery." Sheila's voice just sounded hollow.

Matt opened his eyes and watched her for a minute. "You okay?"

She nodded. "I'm just still kind of numb. As stupid as it sounds, I keep expecting him to walk back through that door and tell me everything's okay."

The tears started once again and Matt went to her and sat down on the couch putting an arm around her. "I'm not Charles and I can't change what happened, but I'm doing my best to get the guys responsible. And CJ and I will be there every step of the way for you." He pulled her closer and she laid her head on the private investigator's chest. After a few minutes, she straightened up, wiping her eyes and blowing her nose.

"I remember the first time I saw you." She gave a chuckle. "They brought you in with a gunshot wound in that shoulder of yours…" Sheila motioned to his left shoulder. "Most people would have been either passed out or bawling. You were fussing because you wanted to go beat the snot out of the guy that shot you." They both laughed. "And then when Doc Metcalfe made you stay overnight – Lord have mercy! I thought I was gonna shoot you myself." Matt snickered. "Fuss, fuss, fuss – that's all you did that night."

"Yeah, until you read me the riot act and told me that you were going to have me sent up for a mental evaluation if I didn't shut up and get some sleep." Both of them laughed again.

After lunch, Matt ran Sheila over to the funeral home and helped her to make the arrangements for Charles. He had only met the man once, but liked him. When everything was taken care of Matt took her back to the ranch.

CJ and Catey met them outside when they pulled up. When she saw her dad, Catey's arms shot out for him to take her. "Hey there, Whistle Britches. Are you feeling better?"

"She's still a little fussy but it's better than it was. You know that has got to hurt, having teeth poke up through your gums." She gave Matt a kiss and Catey gave him an extra slobbery kiss on the chin.

"Lady Bug, let me go put this old gun up and you and I will go for a ride – might even make it a double." Matt turned toward the house.

"I'll take care of it, Matt. You two go on." She took the pistol from him as he pulled it out of the back waistband of his jeans. After putting it up for him she walked back out and along with Sheila, walked down to the pasture to watch the pair. Cricket was already waiting at the fence for them.

As they stood watching Matt and Catey, Sheila was telling CJ about what had happened at the station. "I swear he was just as calm then as he is right now. How in the world does he do it?"

Shaking her head and smiling CJ replied, "He's been through a lot in his life. I guess it's a case of deal with it or go crazy." She thought about it a minute. "And you know - he's a lot calmer now than he was before Catey came along. I think that's got a lot to do with it."

"We made the arrangements for Charles. Thursday at 2:00." She looked down as CJ patted her on the back. "I still can't believe it."

CJ stood and watched Matt. "You know, I've come so close to losing him so many times…I don't know what I would do. We've had each other to count on for twenty four years." She looked over at the nurse. "I'd say you're handling it a lot better than I would."

Later on after Catey and Sheila were both in bed, Matt and CJ were cuddled up together in a lounge chair by the pool, his head resting on her belly as they looked up at the stars. He had been pretty quiet that evening and CJ knew that something was eating at him. "What?" She ran her fingers through his hair.

"Huh?"

"What's bothering you?" She could read him like a book.

Matt raised his face up to hers and rubbed his thumb across her cheek, kissing her lightly. "Nothing." He laid his head back down.

"Liar." She turned his face back up to hers. "What is it?"

"Now that was just real sweet and romantic. Gees, CJ." He chuckled, then became serious. "I don't know…this whole thing that's happened. It's just…it seems like every time things get to going really good something like this happens. It just hit home, you know what I mean?"

CJ continued running her fingers through his hair. "Well you sure impressed her today…she told me what happened at the station." Matt didn't say anything but his hand came up and rested on her waist. "You've got quite a fan club."

"Unhh." He got up out of the chair, took CJ by the hand, and led her into the house and back to their bedroom.


	6. Chapter 6

**CHAPTER 6**

Monday morning rolled around and Matt got ready for work just like he always did with one exception: he now had a shadow around the house. Chantilly followed him when he came out of the bedroom and stuck his head into the nursery to check on Catey who was still asleep. Once again, the dog had spent the night curled up under the crib and just like the previous morning, she followed Matt into the kitchen and asked to be let outside. Matt stood drinking a cup of coffee as he waited on her and looked at the sky. The forecasters were calling for storms to move in that afternoon.

Sheila came to the door in her bathrobe. "That's where she is! Where has she been sleeping at night?"

Matt grinned. "In the nursery under the crib - she seems to like it in there."

"Oh my goodness. I'm sorry, Houston…"

"What in the heck are you sorry about? I'm kinda glad she's in there. Extra protection for Catey – that's nothing to be sorry about." The dog ran back and made a circle around Matt then went to Sheila.

Houston headed back into the kitchen as CJ walked in with a babbling Catey. Chantilly gave a little bark as the baby was put into her high chair and then she took up her post right at Catey's feet. The baby giggled and pointed down at the dog. Matt chuckled as he went back into the den to get his pistol. Even though he knew it hadn't been fired he checked to make sure the magazine was full; old habits died hard.

As CJ unloaded the dishwasher she turned to Matt. "What's the plan today?"

"I was just thinking about that." He filled up a travel mug with coffee and leaned against the counter. "I think I'm going to pay Roper a visit and see what I can find out about the subs, then…" He stopped. The used Russian satellite that he had bought the year before popped into his head. "Uh, then I might do some window shopping." He looked CJ right in the eye and gave her a crooked smile. She picked up on what he meant and nodded. "Sounds like a good idea."

"Sheila, do you need to go anywhere today?" He took another sip of coffee.

"Well I'm supposed to meet the insurance adjuster about my car. I'll just grab a cab."

"Uh, I don't think you want to do that." Matt came back in. "Tell you what: how about you ride in to the office with me and then we can go together – I really don't think you want to go by yourself do you?"

The nurse silently shook her head. "Not really."

"Well then I'll take Miss Catey Rose here and get her dressed while you get dressed." He picked up the baby and started for the nursery with Chantilly right on his heels. "And I've got a supervisor, too. C'mon, Tilly – let's go."

CJ giggled as the dog trotted right along behind Matt like she understood every word he said. Sheila rolled her eyes and went back to get dressed as CJ worked on getting breakfast. When Matt had Catey ready, he and the baby along with his new shadow came back into the kitchen.

After breakfast he and Sheila loaded up in the truck and headed to the office. Sheila stopped to talk to Chris, Matt's secretary, and he headed on in to call Roper. "Hey, you didn't call me back yesterday."

"Sorry Houston, it got pretty busy around here after I talked to you. I had to go help out with a bust out on 75th Street. But I did get to talk to Ron Traywick. He'd like for you to stop by and have a chat with him. I think you two might be able to help each other out." Roper was juggling a cup of coffee and a stack of folders about a foot high.

"Okay, hang on a second." He turned to Sheila who had walked into the office amazed at what she saw. "What time are you supposed to meet the insurance guy?"

"9:00. Is that okay?" She sat down on the couch and continued to look around.

"Carl, how about 11:00?"

"I'll tell him and leave word downstairs that you're on the way – and to lock up all of the choppers."

"I'll see you then – spoil sport." Matt hung up the phone and pulled up the computer, something that really surprised Sheila.

"Good Lord – this place is like a James Bond dream come true." She looked at Matt and shook her head.

The private eye grinned as he went ahead and started looking into Doug Hayes. He was another drug connection that Melanie Potts had. As he skimmed through the information on the dealer, Matt noticed that Hayes had been picked up many times on drug charges, but hadn't had many convictions. "Sheila, want some coffee?"

"Sure, but I'll get it. You keep working." She stood up and looked around. "Uh, where is it?"

Matt snickered. "Behind the bar. There should be some creamer in the fridge back there." He went back to digging on Hayes when he had an idea. Pulling out his cell phone, he dialed the number for Lorenzo Adolfo, a former gang leader and drug dealer that Matt had met a couple of weeks ago right before Hoyt had been shot. "Hey, have you got a minute?"

"Sure. What can I do for you?" Lorenzo was in the kitchen of his restaurant supervising the complete overhaul.

"I need a little information and I thought you might be the very one to ask. Do you know Doug Hayes?"

"Uh huh, unfortunately. That dude is _loco_."

"Hmmm, that's not good. Can you tell me a little bit about him or is it a bad time?" He knew that Lorenzo wouldn't want anyone to hear what he had to say.

"No, just hang on a second and let me go back to the office." There was the sound of sawing and hammering going on in the background and several voices could be heard, and then all was quiet as the man stepped inside his office. "Hayes is one mean dude. He would probably slice his own grandmother if she didn't move enough product."

"Okay. Do you know if he gets his stuff from a guy named Asuncion?" There was silence on the other end of the line for so long that Matt thought the call had been dropped and looked at his phone to make sure. "You still there?"

"Uh yeah, you just surprised me. How do you know about Asuncion?"

"A little birdy told me yesterday. I take it he's even meaner than Hayes?"

"Yeah, he uh, well, let's just say he doesn't mind losing employees to collateral damage - or anybody else for that matter. He looks out for himself and nobody else – _en absoluto_, know what I mean?"

"I think I'm getting the picture. So is he the one that owns the sub or does someone else?"

"Damn Houston! How do you know this stuff, _varón_?!"

Matt laughed. "I have my ways. So what about it?"

"He owns one and is getting another one together. I heard that he got a good deal on a used one – only he had to have it pulled off the bottom of the ocean."

"And I take it he didn't get that deal at the local used submarine dealership either. I'm thinking he probably got it from somebody with a Columbian accent."

"Yeah, you could say that." Adolfo was more than a little surprised that Houston knew as much as he did.

"Alright, anything else I need to know?" He took the cup of coffee from Sheila and took a sip.

"Yeah, this guy always has plenty of hardware around. All kinds of hardware – and I ain't talking about hammers. He's one mean dude, Houston. If you get anywhere near him you better have plenty of firepower."

"I appreciate the help. How's it going for you?" Adolfo had left the gang a couple of weeks before and was now working on making his restaurant legitimate.

"Pretty good. We're remodeling the kitchen – gonna make it more streamlined – kinda like me." He laughed.

"Bubba the only thing streamlined about you is that bald head. You take care – and thanks a lot." Matt hung up the phone and glanced over at Sheila who was watching him in fascination.

"Houston, what in the hell were you just talking about?" Her mocha-colored face was a portrait of puzzlement.

"Well…" He took another sip of coffee. "What you were hearing was one end of a conversation with a former gang leader and drug dealer. He was giving me a little information about someone who may or may not be connected to our case…but from what he was telling me, I've got a feeling that he may have been behind the attack on you and Charles."

She was stunned. "Why…." Tears started again. Matt put an arm around her.

"This guy doesn't care who gets in the way or who gets hurt…even his own people." He patted her shoulder. "I've dealt with people like this before, but what I can't understand is why they did the fire-bombing? They could have gotten the stuff back without that. And it wouldn't have drawn any attention to them. Something just doesn't add up. I know that doesn't change anything for you…it won't bring Charles back…but it might help us to catch the bastards responsible for what happened. Right now that's the only thing that we can do for him." She nodded, tears streaming silently down her face. Matt looked at his watch. "We better get going to meet your insurance guy." Sheila wiped away the tears and tried to calm down. "Come on." Matt stood up and led her to the stairs that went down to the gym. "Go down here; take a left at the bottom of the stairs. There's a restroom down there. I'll meet you by the elevator." He closed up the computer and went to talk to Chris for a minute while he waited on the nurse.

A couple of minutes later, she emerged, her eyes dried and looking determined. She joined Matt on the elevator. He hit the button for the parking garage and cut his eyes over at her. "Houston, I want you to know that I really appreciate everything you've done for me – and for Charles. And I want you to get these guys, but…" she turned to face him. "I don't want you to put yourself in danger. If anything happened to you because of this stuff I would never be able to look CJ in the eye."

"I'll be careful."

"You better be…'cause if I have to be your private nurse because of something that happens with these thugs I am NOT gonna be a happy camper." She popped a hand on her hip and gave him the old Sheila look that he had come to know you didn't argue with.

"Yes ma'am." He gave her a grin.


	7. Chapter 7

**CHAPTER 7**

The insurance adjuster was over twenty minutes late and then once there, tried to give Sheila the runaround. Matt quickly made up his mind that he wasn't going to put up with any more of the jerk's smart mouth. "Bud, would you step over here for a minute? There's something I want you to see. No Sheila, we've got this." His tone took Sheila by surprise.

Matt put his hand on the adjuster's shoulder and squeezed tightly. "Now that it's just you and me here we're gonna have a little chat." He pointed over his shoulder at Sheila. "That lady right there lost her husband in this fire. What happened to her was not her fault in any way whatsoever. Now, you and I both know that this is not complicated. You showed up with a burr under your saddle; if you don't straighten up right now you're gonna be leaving here with a boot so far up your ass that it will need to be surgically removed. Give the lady what's hers and let's get this over with…unless you want to make a trip to the surgeon. You got me?" The man quickly nodded his head and immediately told Sheila that everything would be covered and that she would be receiving a check in seven to ten days. Matt cleared his throat. The adjuster revised it to two days and looked to Matt for approval. "Mr. Butler, we sure do appreciate your help in this matter. Have a nice day." The private investigator smiled, but his eyes were hard and cold.

As he opened the truck door for Sheila, she started chuckling. "I don't know what you said to that little man but I believe he needs to find a clean pair of underwear." Matt just grinned and walked around to the driver's side and got behind the wheel.

"Do you mind going back to the office for a while?" He stopped at a red light and took a sip of coffee out of the travel mug, then made a face because it was cold.

"No, that's fine. I don't have anything else to do…" Her cell phone rang. "Hello? Uh huh…please tell me you're joking. Oh my God! How can they do that?" She had her head in her hands. "Okay, well…that soon?! Alright… yeah, me too. 'Bye."

Matt looked over at her. "What's the matter?" He pulled over into a parking lot as the nurse completely lost it.

"The hospital just laid me off. There have been rumors going around for the last few months that it might happen. They got a new comptroller in there and he has been cutting and slashing everything. That's how I ended back up on the third floor after being transferred to the cardiac unit. It was either that or hit the street. Now I don't even have that." Once again the tears were falling.

"Hey now, calm down. Easy." Matt put an arm around her. "You need to calm down. We'll get things figured out, alright?" An idea had been brewing in Matt's mind for the last day or so and the news of Sheila's layoff just made it that much more feasible. "Here blow your nose. I've got a proposition for you." He handed her a bandana and she honked her nose. "Okay, I haven't talked to CJ about it yet, but I've got an idea." Sheila looked over at him. "You know how crazy our lives can be sometimes: I get called out at all hours, sometimes CJ has to be gone a few days for business and we really need some help, now that Catey is here." The nurse started shaking her head no. "Hear me out, okay?"

"Look…" He looked around and then down at the steering wheel and grinned. "CJ and I got a late start on having a family because of…well…stupidity on my part." The nurse chuckled. "We've got Catey and things are already hectic, but we want more kids. Guess we're crazy, huh?" Matt smiled over at the nurse. "Now, see it from my point of view: there's a smart lady, a brave lady who was ready to shoot some woman she didn't even know just to protect me. She's also a nurse. And I've trusted her with my life on more occasions than I can remember. Who better to ask to be a nanny for my kids?"

Sheila sat there in stunned silence. "Are you serious?"

"Yep. I've been thinking about finding somebody to help us out. Hell, Friday night was the first time CJ and I have been out on a real honest-to-God date in…I don't know when." He laughed. "If you were there, I could rest easy. You need a job and we need you. That's it in a nutshell."

"I…I don't know what to say, Houston. CJ may not want…"

"Betcha she'll jump on it." He pulled out his phone and called the office. "Chris, did CJ make it in yet? Good, I need to talk to her." Pushing the speaker button, he set the phone down on the console.

"Hey Matt – what's going on?" CJ had just gotten done changing Catey's diaper.

"What would you think about having a nanny – one who can be trusted, knows how to shoot, and is also a registered nurse?" Matt grinned over at Sheila.

"Oh my God yes…will she do it?" The sound of relief in the lawyer's voice took Sheila by surprise.

"I just asked her but she wasn't sure if you would approve."

"Hell yeah, I approve! I'd be crazy not to!"

"Okay, there it is, Sheila…the ball's in your court." The private eye was grinning like a fox in the hen house.

"I…yes!" The nurse was so flabbergasted she didn't know what to say.

"Good. Settled. That was almost easy. See you in a few, Babe. Love you."

"Love you, too. 'Bye!" CJ sounded extremely happy.

Sheila had a shocked look on her face. "Houston, does everything in your life go like this? I mean…just bada boom bada bing!"

Matt pulled back out onto the road and headed for the office. "Actually, most of my life has been like that. Just look at how I proposed to CJ." He cracked up.

"What? I haven't heard about this." Sheila turned in the seat to face him. "What did you do to that poor girl?"

"Well…." Matt explained how he had proposed to CJ in the emergency room after being injured by a seven foot tall wrestler while attempting to rescue the young girl that he had kidnapped. "And Doc Metcalfe was going to kick her out of the exam room until I popped the question right then and there. You know, I think he actually did me a favor." He started laughing.

"Boy, you just aren't right. My heavens!" Sheila shook her head. "I guess I need to take this job just to keep her from going insane trying to take care of you." He shrugged and smiled. "Really though, Houston; I appreciate it. Ooooh, just wait till I go clear my locker out and tell them I've already got another job."

"How much do you make as a nurse?" Matt stopped at another traffic light.

"About $60,000 a year."

"Okay, I'll double it. And when more kids come along, you get a raise. How about that?" He took off and glanced over at Sheila.

"You can't do that, Houston, that's just too much."

"Yes I can and no it isn't. I can do whatever I darn well please, thank you very much." He grinned.


	8. Chapter 8

**CHAPTER 8**

After dropping Sheila back off at the office, Matt headed on over to the DEA office on Temple Street. He stopped at the front desk and was given a visitor's pass and told to go to the seventeenth floor. Stepping off of the elevator, Matt stopped at the receptionist's desk and was shown to Carl Roper's office.

"Hey, are you planning on taking any choppers today?" Roper shook Matt's hand.

"Nah, not today. I've got too much going on right now." He followed Carl as he led the way to Ron Traywick's office and introduced the two.

"So this is the cowboy who tried to steal the Blackhawk, huh?" Traywick cracked up. "Nice to meet you. I don't know of too many folks who would have had the stones to try to pull that off."

Matt grinned. "Well, it was just one of those days. What can I say?" He sat down in the chair that Traywick offered to him.

"Okay, Roper here tells me that you want to know about the narco-subs. Not planning on taking one of those are you?"

"No, I'd like to get hold of somebody who may or may not be involved with it." Matt was all business now.

"Yeah, he told me about that. It just isn't right, some guy spent twenty years in the Corps to come home and get killed by two idiots. What can I do to help you?"

"Well, say somebody had access to a satellite and wanted to try to find one of those subs running between Mexico and maybe Malibu: are there any tell-tale signs that a guy should be looking for?" Houston leaned back and crossed his left leg over his right.

"Somebody with access to a satellite?" Traywick looked at the private eye like he was crazy.

"Hypothetically, of course." Matt scratched his moustache with the back of his thumb.

"Uh huh. Well…" The agent looked at Roper who was shaking his head and grinning. "It would depend on the sub. See, some of them aren't full-fledged submarines. The older models that started being used in the 1980's were semi-submersibles. They couldn't dive, but the only part that could be seen above the water was the cockpit and the exhaust pipes. Nowadays, most of them are fully-submersible; they cost about $2 million to build. That might sound like a lot, but when you consider how much can be packed into them, and most of what they carry is cocaine, one full load can net them $100 million." The shock must have shown on Matt's face. "And let me tell you something else: if the Coast Guard or us gets on their track and attempts to arrest them, they will scuttle the sub. It only takes about a minute for them to sink."

"Damn." The private eye was astounded.

"Most of the ones that are out there now are about sixty feet long, go about 6 knots, and can carry ten tons of coke. The majority of them are made out of fiberglass and have a 300-350 horsepower diesel engine in them. Usually there's a crew of four. And the fuel tanks on board give them a range of about 2,000 miles. The real downside is the leg room is at a bare minimum and they don't have a head."

"That could really make you appreciate the phrase "don't drink the water."" Matt said it in such a serious tone that Roper almost choked on the coffee that he was drinking.

"I like this guy, Roper. Maybe we should just give him a Blackhawk." Traywick handed the other agent a tissue. "Got a little latte on your shirt there, pal. Anyway, since they're made mostly of fiberglass they can't really submerge too deep. They can be spotted from the air, but you have to give those guys credit: they camouflage them with blue paint so they pretty well blend in with the water. And they don't have much of a wake either." He leaned back in his chair, propping his feet on the desk. "Now, you want to know the real kicker? They've started finding steel subs. The first one that was found was about twelve years ago in a warehouse just outside of Bogota. Now that's about three hundred miles from the Pacific."

"So I guess the plan was to rent a U-Haulit truck?" Matt smirked and Roper choked on his coffee again.

"Something along that line. I personally think I would have found a place closer to the ocean to put it together but maybe they were excited." Traywick rolled his eyes. "Anyway, the deal with it being all steel is that it could fully submerge. And of course, that cuts down on our ability to intercept them. The Navy and Coast Guard are good, but they can't be everywhere at once. Oh, and they've found a couple that were made of fiberglass and Kevlar. Those can be fully submerged as well."

"Wonderful. Okay, what about the torpedoes?"

"Somebody has been doing their homework. Semi-submersibles are hard to spot from patrol ships, but are easy to detect from the air. So the smugglers thought up a way to avoid the problem. Instead of a full-featured self-propelled ship, a "torpedo"-style cargo container is used with a ballast tank to keep it at about 98 feet under water while being towed by a regular fishing boat. If a patrol ship is spotted, they release the torpedo. While it's still submerged, it automatically releases one buoy concealed as a wooden log. Now this isn't just ANY log – it's equipped with a location transmitter system for a second support boat to retrieve it and continue the delivery."

"Alright, that makes sense." Matt thought about what he had heard. "So if somebody should happen to spot one of these – hypothetically of course – should they give you a call or the Coasties?"

"Either way. Actually if you – or your hypothetical friend – were to call me directly, I've got a guy at the Coast Guard that I can get in touch with. We've worked together several times."

"Alright then. Well…" Matt stood up. "I appreciate your help." They shook hands and Roper walked Matt back to the elevator and rode down to the lobby with him. "Trying to make sure I don't appropriate anything today?" The private eye gave the agent a crooked grin.

"Nah, just trying to be polite. Let me know if you need any more help, okay?" Roper shook his hand and Matt reclaimed his truck from the parking lot and went back to the office. He noticed CJ's navigator was gone when he got there but when he stepped off of the elevator, she was talking to Chris.

"I let Sheila take the Navigator back to the ranch – and she took Catey, too. She is really excited about the nanny deal." CJ looked pretty happy herself. "But it seems kind of strange not having Catey around here."

Matt pulled her into a hug. "She'll be fine. So can I take my two favorite ladies out to lunch before I have to get started on some work?"

"Fine by me. Chris – want to go with us?" CJ looked to the secretary.

"Sure. Murray's out of town this week. It's been strange with him being gone." She picked up her purse and the three left for Ricardo's.

Later on that afternoon, Matt and CJ were both in his office using the satellite to try to track down Doug Hayes. "Now Traywick told me that they camouflage these subs by painting them blue."

As he zoomed in the view from the satellite, CJ looked at him. "Why do I get the feeling that we're both about to get a really bad headache?"

"I'd rather get a headache looking for something blue in the ocean than have the bastards use one of the torpedo cargo carriers – those can't be spotted at all." Matt sat staring at the screen. "You know what, let's divide and conquer. I'll take the laptop and you take this computer. We'll split the area in half. I'll take Malibu down to San Clemente and you take from San Clemente on down to…" He stopped. CJ looked up at him and stayed quiet while he thought. She watched as he picked up the phone and dialed. "Hey Roper, do we know exactly where Asuncion lives? All I've heard is Tijuana." There was silence for a minute. "Seriously? Wow, okay thanks." He hung up and took over the mouse to the computer that CJ was using. "Okay, Asuncion lives…here. They suspect that he's been running the stuff right out of his backyard. Literally."

CJ looked at the large villa that Matt had zoomed in on. "Wow, that takes nerve. I wonder why…never mind. I already know the answer. He's got somebody in his back pocket more than likely."

"Yep. So you take it from there to San Clemente. If you get bored looking at the same water we can switch." He grinned as she swatted at him. "Now there's no guarantee that they even have one of these subs out there, but there is a chance. From what Roper and Traywick have told me, Asuncion and Hayes are rough characters and don't mind other people getting hurt. But for the life of me I still can't figure out why Yearly firebombed the house. It was his dope in there." They both got quiet as they began scanning the area.

After a couple of hours Matt went out to the bar for more coffee. He handed a cup to CJ then stopped in his tracks again. "Oh boy, the gears are clicking again." CJ watched as an idea popped up in Matt's mind.

"Traywick said that the subs are usually less than one hundred feet deep – depending on what they're made of, so…" He pulled up a browser tab and checked the US Geological Survey elevation and depth maps. "If that's true, then they would probably be right along this track here." The private eye brought the laptop over where his wife could see. "It's roughly between one and one and a half miles off the coast. That will cut down on the amount of water we've gotta search."

"Good point." They both got back to work and after another hour, Matt sighed. She glanced at him. "What?"

"I knew from the start of this that more than likely we wouldn't see one of these subs…" He closed the laptop and stood up stretching. "But it would have been nice to at least have some results for Sheila. But, it's a start I guess. I just feel like I'm grasping at straws. We don't have any idea why they did what they did, and we haven't been able to find Yearly or Melanie Potts. I was just hoping maybe we would be able to spot something."

CJ shut down the computer and gave Matt a hug. "I think you're covering just about every angle you can, Matt. Maybe Rich, Roper, or Lee will come up with something." She looked at her watch. "We better go on home."

"Yeah…" He picked up his books for his Fire Technology class and the laptop and headed for the door, locking it behind them as they exited the room, and then headed home for the night.

When they got to the ranch and walked into the kitchen they found Catey in her high chair and Sheila cooking. "It sure does smell good in here." Matt walked over and started to lift the top off of a pan on the stove when his knuckles were rapped with a wooden spoon.

"Ahhnnt. No sir, it's a surprise." Sheila grinned at him.

"Well I just wanna look." He tried again only to be threatened by his newest employee. CJ was laughing as was Catey. "Humph." Matt tried for a hurt look but grinned. "Kinda reminds me of Madre Rosa. So do Catey and I have time for a ride?"

"Yes, you do. About fifteen minutes. Shoo!" The nurse swatted at him once again causing the baby to start in on another fit of giggles.

"It's abuse I tell ya." Matt chuckled as he picked his daughter up and headed down to the pasture followed by Chantilly. When he got to the fence, Cricket was standing there waiting on him. Bo and Lamar walked over from the barn.

"How's Sheila doing today?" Lamar watched as Matt settled onto the back of the horse.

"It's been a roller coaster of a day for her I guess. She got laid off from the hospital. But now she's got another job."

"That was quick. Is it another hospital?" The old cowboy was surprised to say the least.

"No, it's a nuthouse." Matt chuckled as Cricket started around the pasture. "She's our new nanny." He grinned at the expression on the faces of the two men.

"You know that's a good idea, Houston." Bo piped up. "As often as you manage to get banged up and shot…" He and Lamar looked at each other and laughed. "Guess she's your nanny, too."

"Funny. She's been in the kitchen cookin' and she won't even let me take a peek at what it is." He had one hand around Catey's waist as the baby had both hands full of the horse's mane.

"Sounds like Madre Rosa all over again." Both of the men laughed.

Later on that night after stuffing themselves on chicken parmesan CJ and Sheila were playing with Catey and talking while Matt took his laptop out onto the patio and checked the satellite again. _Sure can't see a camo'ed submarine in the ocean after dark _He thought to himself. Heaving a sigh, he pulled up one of the lectures that he needed to watch for class.

CJ looked out the kitchen window to see where he was and came back into the den. "He's working on his school work." She grinned at Sheila.

"How does he find time to do that and work like he does?" Sheila rolled a stuffed ball to Catey who swatted at it.

"Usually like tonight. Although he does fall asleep on the lectures pretty often." CJ sat down in the floor next to Catey and played with her for a while longer until Matt came back in and looked at his watch.

"Miss Whistle Britches it's almost bedtime for you." He went to get her a bottle and then walked back into the den, scooped up the baby and settled into the recliner with her. "So how do you like having Miss Sheila around, kiddo?" Catey started babbling back at him and giggled. "That translates into "love it" in case you were wondering." He grinned over at the new nanny.

Later on after Catey was put to bed and Sheila was busy in her room, Matt popped open his laptop and pulled up the satellite feed again. "Hon, you won't be able to spot one of those subs in the dark." CJ sat down next to him.

"No, but I just had an idea. Even if Asuncion did have the officials in his pocket, I bet he doesn't load the sub in broad daylight." Matt adjusted the view onto the drug supplier's villa. "That guy has a huge pool." They both looked as he swung the view straight out into the water. "I see some lights." He and CJ exchanged a look, then began studying the feed again. "Look – right there. It's moving." Matt pointed out a white dot on the screen that was sure enough moving toward shore. They watched as it sat there for about twenty minutes then moved back out again. "He's loading up!" Matt snatched up his cell phone and called Traywick.

"Seriously? How in the hell do you have…never mind. I don't care how. Alright we'll have to keep an eye on it." Traywick had been about to go to bed but was now putting his shoes back on.

"Tell you what: why don't you come to the ranch and we can take turns keeping an eye on it?" Matt gave him the directions. "Just park next to my truck and come in through the door there." He hung up and smiled at CJ. "You realize that was just pure luck don't you?"

"Pure luck and a whole lot of dedication." She kissed him on the cheek and they continued to watch the feed.

A short time later Chantilly, who had been sitting in CJ's lap, ran into the kitchen growling and snarling. The blue heeler-husky mix had her teeth bared and was holding Traywick dead still in the kitchen door. Matt made it into the kitchen first. "Chantilly, it's okay. He's one of the good guys. Let him go." The dog immediately sat down, but continued to watch Traywick carefully. Sheila hustled into the kitchen as he spoke.

"You didn't tell me you had a guard dog." The agent slowly stepped into the kitchen.

"I didn't know that we did." Matt looked down at the eight month old pup and patted her on the head. "Tilly, you impressed me girl. Good job." He introduced Sheila, Traywick, and CJ and then finally Chantilly. By this time the dog had decided that Traywick was indeed okay and had settled down.

"Houston, I'm sorry. I had no idea she would do that." Sheila started to get onto the dog.

"Don't do that. She did a great job; exactly what she should have. Did you have her trained?" He looked at the nurse.

"No, she's just…" She looked at the dog, somewhat perplexed.

"She's smart is what she is. Good girl, Tilly. Come on, let's get back to work." He made a quick kissing sound and the dog followed him back into the den. The others followed him in there and Matt sat down in the center of the couch, Chantilly at his feet. "Sheila, you might want to see this, but before you do…" He pointed to both Traywick and the nanny. "You both have to swear to me that you won't breathe a word of this to anybody. It could literally get me killed…or anyone else around me." Both nodded and Matt motioned for them to have a seat on either side of him. "Alright, don't ask me how I have this, because I'm not going to tell you. But here we have Asuncion's villa, see where the pool is all lit up? And I'm willing to bet that this," he showed them the little white speck traveling back out into the ocean, "is his people loading up a narco-sub with drugs."

"Damn." Traywick couldn't believe his eyes. "How did you know to look?"

"I didn't. But I got to thinking that as big as that villa is, he's probably got some of his merchandise stashed there. And that's only a few miles from the US border, so it would make perfect sense to load it and ship it from there." Matt looked at Sheila. "Now I don't think this guy actually threw the bombs into your house, but I'd say he might be behind it. It's a possibility. And if I can track him down, I might be able to get to the others. Lee has got surveillance on Yearly's house but he hasn't been dumb enough to go back there. He's in the wind. But this guy is another story. I'm hoping that maybe he'll meet up with Yearly. Even if he doesn't run the sub himself, if we can get some of his guys, we might be able to get some information from them; and keep a load of product from reaching the streets." He looked over at Traywick who nodded.

"Who's got first shift?" the DEA agent grimly smiled at Houston.


	9. Chapter 9

**CHAPTER 9**

Matt and Traywick took three hour shifts that night. When Houston took over at 2:00, the DEA agent informed him that he had seen ten more trips out to the sub. As he sat in the den watching the feed, Chantilly came in and sat down at his feet again. She had gone into the nursery earlier and taken up her usual post under Catey's crib. Matt patted on the couch and the pup jumped up next to him and rested her head on his leg. "I'm glad you're here, Tilly." He continued to pet the dog as he watched and kept track of the number of trips that were made to the sub. Just as it started to get light, he caught sight of the sub and the boat that was transporting the drugs to it.

Traywick walked in and Matt motioned him over with a grin. "I can see it now. And it is definitely blue." He zoomed in on the sub.

"Oh good; it's an older one. It isn't fully submersible." He smiled at Matt as he pulled out his cell phone and called his Coast Guard contact. "Darren, Traywick here. Yeah I know what time it is, but trust me, you'll be happy that I woke you up." Without saying how they had managed to spot it, he told the commander what they had been watching all night long. "See, I told you it was worth it." He listened as the man talked for a minute. "Okay, we'll meet you there. 'Bye." He hung up and looked at Matt. "You don't get seasick do you?"

"Not anymore." Matt got up and went to tell CJ that he was leaving.

"Hon, please be careful." She hugged him tightly. "These guys are flat out mean."

"I will, Babe. Besides, I won't be alone. I've got the DEA and the Coasties, remember?" He rubbed his thumb across her cheek and kissed her before grabbing his Glock out of the bedside table and checking the magazine. "Love you." Giving her another peck on the cheek he walked out of the bedroom and met up with Traywick in the kitchen. Tilly was accepting a good ear scratch from the agent. "Tilly, take care of my ladies for me." Matt petted the dog.

"Roper will be meeting us at the airport." Traywick stood up.

Both men walked out the door and loaded up in their vehicles. Matt called Lee Jenkins and told him what was going on and agreed to contact him if they came up with anything, and also called Rich Holt.

"Damn Houston! When you get into a case you get into it, don't you?" He laughed. "Good, I always did like bulldogs. Let me know what happens – and watch your six out there; these guys don't play."

"I will. Talk to you later." He hung up and it wasn't long before he pulled into the Coast Guard station at LAX right behind the DEA agent. Traywick's contact, Darren McGavock was waiting for them outside along with Carl Roper. After the introductions he asked to see what the pair had found. Matt had recorded the footage that he had seen that morning when the sun came up and showed it to the commander.

"You caught 'em, alright. Good deal. But how…" He didn't get a chance to finish.

"Don't ask how, just be happy. Trust me on this." Traywick looked at Matt and grinned.

"Okay, well the old semi-submersibles usually travel a little slower. It could take them a while to get from the location that you showed me to Malibu – depending on what kind of engine they've got. I've arranged for us to take a chopper down to San Diego." He led the way to one of the HH-65C Dolphin helicopters. As they climbed on board and strapped in, Matt took a good look around the interior of the chopper. It was then that he heard Roper's voice coming through the helmet: "I wouldn't advise trying to take one of these, Houston; they're very protective of them." Commander McGavock looked between the two of them as they both started laughing.

"How much does one of these run, Commander?" Matt was impressed by the speed and smoothness of the helicopter.

"About $9 million – give or take." The Commander smiled, expecting Matt to have a shocked look on his face.

"Hmm…if I had a little more room on the patio at my office I might just get one." He was seriously looking at the chopper much to the surprise of McGavock.

After a quick flight to the Coast Guard Station at San Diego located on the southeastern side of the airport they emerged from the helicopter to meet with Captain Benjamin Horner. Matt had just checked the satellite feed before landing and could just make out the sub. It had started traveling northwest and was now about a one and a half nautical miles from shore. The men were ushered into a conference room inside the station.

"Mr. Houston, I understand you have some information for us involving a narco-sub, is that right?" Capt. Horner looked at Matt somewhat suspiciously.

"Yes sir, I do." He opened the laptop and showed the captain exactly where the vessel was.

"And just how do you have access to this information, Mr. Houston?"

"Sir, if I may…" Cmdr. McGavock was cut off by the captain.

"No Commander, you may not. I'm sure this gentleman is capable of answering for himself." He stared at Matt.

"Captain, I would prefer not to say in order to keep myself and my family safe. Now if you don't want my help, I will be more than happy to handle this myself. I only came to the Coast Guard out of courtesy." He closed the laptop and headed for the door, leaving Traywick, Roper, and McGavock standing slack jawed, their eyes bobbing back and forth between him and the captain.

"Hold up, Mr. Houston." The captain walked toward the private investigator. "Would you happen to be related to a Roy Houston by chance?" He grinned.

"Yes sir; he's my uncle." Matt, still with a determined look on his face, turned toward the captain.

"I thought so. He and I served together for a while. Have a seat, sir." He offered Matt a chair and the rest of the men sat down as well. "Now, knowing what I do about your uncle, an explanation of where the information came from will not be required. Please fill me in on what you have."

Matt explained the entire case, beginning with the fire in the early morning hours of Saturday right up to his arrival at the station. When he finished the captain was nodding his head. "You've got a lot in common with your uncle, Mr. Houston."

"That's a good thing – seeing as how he works for me now." Houston looked directly into the captain's eyes and saw a good bit of surprise there.

"Please be sure to give him my regards." The man smiled. "Alright, you have our full cooperation. Commander McGavock, you have permission to use whatever vessels you see fit. And I expect to be updated immediately of any developments." He stood and held out his hand to Matt. "I look forward to seeing how this turns out."

"Thank you, sir." Matt turned and followed McGavock and Traywick out the door.

"Houston, you almost walked right out of there, didn't you?" Roper whispered to the private eye.

"Yep." Matt kept walking as the DEA agent let out with a low whistle and a chuckle. When they got back outside, Houston turned to Cmdr. McGavock. "So how do you want to work this?"

"I think if we send out a cutter they would get suspicious. Let's take one of the other boats out and head down that way but have a cutter standing by where they can get to us in a hurry in case we need backup." McGavock pointed to the dock area where there were several smaller boats. "Give me about five minutes and I'll be right there."

Roper led the way down to the dock and he along with Traywick and Houston boarded one of the boats. Matt took a deep breath and looked around. "You okay?"

Houston nodded. "Yeah." He stashed the computer and his vest down in the cabin of the boat and headed up toward the bow and looked around.

"I believe he's got a little bit of a temper." Traywick cut his eyes over at Roper who nodded.

"Uh huh, and I do NOT want to be on the receiving end. Hoyt says it can get really scary really quick."

A few minutes later McGavock joined them along with two other Coasties, all of them in street clothes, and they cast off, heading down through the channel past Point Loma and hooked westward past the New Point Loma Lighthouse. After traveling out about two and a half miles, they stopped and cut the engine.

"Alright, who wants to play fisherman?" McGavock grinned at the two seamen, who cast out a couple of lines and sat down.

Inside the cabin, Matt was keeping an eye on the narco-sub. The commander stepped down inside. "They're not quite five miles southeast of here – almost five miles southwest of Coronado Cays." Matt turned the laptop so that the man could see it. "They seem to be making pretty good progress."

"Good for us, bad for them." The commander sat down. "You sure didn't take any flak off of the captain." He smirked. "He's a good guy, but sometimes he's a little too concerned with protocol. Where did he serve with your uncle?"

"I'm not sure, maybe in the Navy." Matt thought about that. Uncle Roy had served in the Navy for seven years before going to the CIA. Horner didn't strike him as the CIA type, but you never knew. He looked at his watch: it was just after 8:00am.

"We're going to let the sub get within sight before we call in the cutters. We've got two to the southwest of here; I figure between the two of them and us we should be able to get them stopped. But I'm going to tell you right now – these guys are probably armed."

Matt patted on his vest that was next to him on the chair. "I'm ready for them."


	10. Chapter 10

**CHAPTER 10**

It didn't take long for the sub to make it up even with Matt and the others, all of whom were wearing bulletproof vests and armed: the two seamen with AR-15's and Matt and the other men with pistols. On the commander's signal, the two cutters moved in flanking the sub. The petty officer onboard one of the cutters used the loud speaker to identify them as the US Coast Guard and told the crew of the sub to prepare to be boarded in both English and Spanish. When the vessel continued to move, warning shots were fired across the bow and the engines were finally shut down. Two seamen and the petty officer boarded the sub and the crew was removed to the other cutter. After a short trip below, the petty officer returned and reported that the sub was indeed loaded down with marijuana and cocaine. The crew was placed under arrest and the sub was towed back to the Coast Guard dock where Captain Horner was waiting. The prisoners were removed and escorted into the brig.

As Matt and the others stepped off onto the dock, the captain was all smiles. "Mr. Houston, I'll say it again: you're a lot like your uncle." The two shook hands and walked back up to interrogate the prisoners.

Just as Matt expected, the crew of the sub refused to speak English, a fact that didn't slow the private investigator down one bit. He simply switched to Spanish. After spending an hour with each of the men, Matt found out that they did indeed work for Asuncion, a fact that only one of them was willing to give up. The other three wouldn't say a word.

Matt went back to the third prisoner that he had talked with, Miguel Torres, and talked with him some more about his boss and his dealings. While the man was scared, he made it clear to Matt that the only reason he had been a crew member of the sub was because of threats to his family if he didn't. He was also able to shed some light on why the Wentworth's had been fire bombed.

Tony Yearly had been doing business with Doug Hayes and Ricardo Asuncion for several years. Yearly would get his supply of drugs from Hayes who got them from Asuncion. Then Hayes began to get greedy and decided that he would start running his own sub instead of buying from the Mexican drug lord, a fact that didn't sit well with Asuncion. He had approached Yearly and offered to help him get set up in place of Hayes: Asuncion was planning on taking out his new competitor. Since the drugs in the Potts home had come from Hayes, Yearly tried to destroy them by the fire bombs in order to prove his loyalty to Asuncion.

As Matt, Roper, and Traywick waited to board the chopper to head back to LA, the private investigator called Jenkins and Holt to let them know what had happened and what they had found out. "We really need to find Yearly. He's the one behind the firebombing for sure."

"Houston, we've got people out looking for him right now and his house is under surveillance but we haven't been able to find him." Jenkins was frustrated. They were so close to being able to nab the drug dealer but couldn't find him anywhere.

Once they got back to the airport, Matt decided to call it a day and headed for the ranch. The storms that had been predicted had finally made it ashore and were pounding the area. He was drenched by the time he got from the truck into the kitchen of the house.

CJ walked in to find him heading for the laundry room. "You look like a drowned rat." Giving him a big smile, she went to one of the cabinets and pulled out a towel and handed it to him as he stripped off first his boots, then his clothes. As he dried off and put on a pair of shorts, Matt told his wife what he had managed to find out from the crew of the sub.

"So they did that just to…" She closed her eyes and shook her head. Matt hugged her close. "They didn't have to do that!"

"I know, Babe. But these folks just don't give a damn." He held her close and could tell she was crying.

When she pulled back away from him and dried her eyes, she looked at her husband. "I better get you fed – or Mama might come after me." They both laughed.

"Well, Mama hasn't seen me in a while – I've been putting on some weight lately." He grinned.

"You look good to me." CJ planted a kiss on his lips and then headed into the kitchen to get him some dinner.

Sheila walked into the kitchen with Catey who started squealing the minute she saw her daddy. Matt took her and received a big slobbery kiss from his daughter. He looked up at Sheila. "I've got some news. Do you feel up to hearing it?" The nanny nodded. Matt set Catey down on his lap as he took the cup of coffee that CJ handed him. "Thanks, Babe." He took a sip and set the mug down on the kitchen table. "Yearly is the one behind the firebombing. He was doing it to prove his loyalty to Ricardo Asuncion. He's the drug runner from Tijuana."

"But what in the heck did Charles and I have to do with that?"

"Absolutely nothing. These guys don't care who gets hurt – all they're interested in is money." He explained how Asuncion supplied Hayes who in turn supplied Yearly. "So Hayes decided he wanted to take a step up and become an importer and naturally that pissed off Asuncion. Asuncion approached Yearly and offered to help set him up – basically giving him a promotion to Hayes' job. I'm sure there's probably a hit out on Hayes – and if he's heard about what Yearly has tried to pull, he's probably put a hit out on him. But I would like to find him first and send him to prison. Hayes may already have gotten to Yearly – we haven't been able to pick up a sign of him since the raid on his house." Matt wanted to put the man in jail, but knew that might not happen. "I will tell you this, although it might not make you feel any better. I can almost guarantee you that Yearly is going to end up dead either at the hands of Hayes or in prison."

CJ spoke up. "Didn't you say that Melanie Potts had a history with Hayes?"

Matt took another sip and nodded. "She did before she got locked up about four years ago. Supposedly she took off with him Sunday. Somehow I've got the feeling that she decided that Potts wasn't her ideal husband anymore."

Sheila nodded and Matt noticed that while she was definitely upset, she was no longer crying. "Houston, I really appreciate what you've been doing. I never dreamed it would turn into something this big – and dangerous." Catey leaned back and looked up at her dad. "I don't want anything happening to you."

"Nah, nothing will." He picked up Catey and blew a raspberry on her belly sending her into a fit of giggles. "Tomorrow I'm going to concentrate on Yearly – now that I know for sure that he was behind what happened. Hell, if I can track down a semi-submersible and get it stopped I should be able to find one drug dealer, don't you think?" He gave the nanny a smile.

"At this point I don't think there's much that you can't do. But whatever you do – be careful, okay?" She reached over and patted his hand.

"I always am."


	11. Chapter 11

**CHAPTER 11**

Wednesday morning, Matt and CJ rode into the office together in his truck. Although they had told Sheila that she didn't have to start to work right away, she insisted that she wanted to go ahead – it made her feel better.

CJ was quiet as they drove through the morning traffic. Matt snuck a couple of glances at her and while stopped at a light, he reached across the console and took her left hand. "She's fine, Babe."

"I know – I just…it feels weird without her around." CJ bit her bottom lip.

"Hey now, you and I both know that this is probably for the best. Let's face it – it can get pretty crazy around there and she's safe at home and happy with Sheila. And when we have more kids…" He looked over at her and wiggled his eyebrows causing her to grin. "We're obviously going to need help then."

"I know." She looked out the passenger window. "Sheila is absolutely crazy about her. And the fact that she's a nurse is a big plus."

"I had planned on talking to you before asking her to be our nanny, but …" Matt shrugged his shoulders.

"No, I'm glad you went on and asked her. I had thought about it myself but figured I should wait until things calmed down a little bit for her." They were quiet for a minute. "What's your plan for trying to find Yearly?"

"Well, I thought I might give Adolfo another call and see if he could give me any more insight on the man. Maybe he'll give me some ideas I can use. I'm also going to see about talking to somebody down in Narco. He's out there somewhere." He pulled into the parking garage of the Houston Industries Building and shut off the engine, then got out of the truck and walked around to open his wife's door. As she started to slide down out of the truck he grasped her around the waist and kissed her the second her feet touched the floor, taking her breath away.

When he finally broke the kiss, CJ smiled up at him. "And what brought that on?"

"Well…" Matt gave her another shorter kiss. "Every time I try to do that when Catey is around she gets jealous." He grinned and closed the truck door and then wrapped his arm around her waist as they headed to the elevator.

"Any excuse is better than no excuse I guess." CJ hit the button for the elevator and took Matt by surprise by turning and wrapping her arms around his neck, giving him a kiss at least as steamy as the one that he had planted on her.

"Works for me." He bowed and waved her into the elevator before stepping in next to her. When they got up to the penthouse office they found their secretary Chris kissing her husband Murray Chase, the CEO of Houston Industries. "Must be something in the air this morning." Matt smiled as the couple jumped.

CJ piped up. "Yep, must be in the air." As she and Matt started up the stairs into the main part of the office she turned around and smiled at the pair. "The same thing happened to us in the garage." She giggled and walked on in to pour coffee for herself and Matt.

Matt went out onto the patio of the office and pulled out his cell phone to call Adolfo. "Hey, it's Houston. Is it a bad time?"

"No, it's fine. What can I do for you?" Lorenzo Adolfo had just walked back into his office and plopped down in the over-sized desk chair.

"I hate to bother you again, but I could use some more information if you're able." Matt went on to explain what had happened the day before.

"Man, I wondered if you were in on that deal. You really get around, Houston." The restaurant owner chuckled. "I'm sure glad you aren't after me. Not that you'll ever have reason to again."

"I was hoping you might give me some ideas on how I can find Yearly. But I don't want to put you in any kind of a bind." Matt knew that it wasn't going to be easy for the former gang leader and drug dealer to start over as a legitimate business man.

"No, you're not. Hmm…well, I don't know if they're still together or not but he used to date a stripper named Ariel. She works down at "Cherries on Top" on Olympic just east of here."

"Please tell me that's not really the name." He started laughing as CJ sat down next to him at the table on the patio, giving him a quizzical look.

"Yep, that's it alright. Good luck to you." He was laughing as he hung up the phone.

"And what was so funny?" CJ took a sip of coffee as Matt tried to compose himself.

"He said that Yearly's girlfriend works at a strip club out on Olympic – called "Cherries on Top"." He started snickering again, then flat out laughing when he saw the look on his wife's face.

"Umm, there are so many things I could say about that. But I won't. Too bad Uncle Roy isn't around – we could let him go find her there."

"Well, seeing as how he's in Indianapolis right now I don't think that's going to happen." Roy Houston, along his son Will and Matt's best friend Vince Novelli were installing security systems in a chain of jewelry stores. "Guess I have to take care of this myself."

CJ looked at him and cleared her throat.

"What?" He looked over at her and the stern look she had on her face. "Oh come on, CJ. I'm not going for the strippers, I'm working on a case – remember – for Sheila?" The expression she was wearing almost scared him – until she started to smile.

"Gotcha!" She stood up and walked toward her office turning to stick out her tongue at him.

"I'll make you think "gotcha"!" Matt got up and chased her into her office where he pulled her into another kiss. "I'm gonna go down to the station and talked to somebody in Narco – maybe I can get a little help. Can you stay out of trouble while I'm gone?"

"Oh, I don't know." She grinned at him. "You really did look scared while ago."

"That's a rotten thing to do to me, you know that, right?" He kissed her again. "Besides, why would I be interested in a stripper when I'm married to the sexiest, most beautiful woman in the world? Love you, Babe." He let go of her and started for the door, then quickly turned and popped her on the butt before taking off running to the elevator, almost plowing down Murray in the process. "Sorry Bud – it's her fault." He hit the button for the elevator and was happy when the doors automatically opened and he pressed the button to close them just as his wife was within a couple of feet.

Once at the police station, Matt clipped on his ID and went up to the fourth floor. Lee Jenkins had just showed up after going to investigate an early morning shooting. "Oh, would you look? Mr. Houston has come back to us. What's the matter? Did you decide that the Coasties weren't good enough for you?" He grinned as Matt gave him a rude gesture. "Be careful – I'll tell your wife."

"That threat won't work this morning – I'm already in trouble with her." He laughed. "I talked to somebody and learned a little something about Yearly – I hope." Matt told him about Yearly's girlfriend. "I thought we might be able to get some information from her."

"Good idea." Jenkins finished his report and looked at his watch.

"I also thought maybe we should go down and talk to somebody in Narco. They probably wouldn't mind getting in on this."

"Yep, let me see if Anderson is down there." He punched a few buttons on the phone and spoke to the lieutenant who told them to come on down.

"Come on in and have a seat." Lt. Anderson motioned to a couple of chairs in front of his desk. "So you're planning on going after Yearly. Well you came by at the right time, because somebody else is planning on making a raid today at "Cherries on Top". Have you met Lt. Cranston?" A tall, lanky man with salt and pepper hair walked into Anderson's office.

"Yes sir, I have." Matt shook with the lieutenant. "It's been a while back though – what – about four years or so?"

"About that; back when Novelli was still running the halls." He plopped down on the couch. "Anderson tells me you want to talk to Ariel Stamps." Matt told him what had happened with the case so far. "Okay, we're pulling out of here in half an hour. Got a vest?"

"Yup, down in my truck."

"See you down in the garage then." Cranston stood up and headed out the door.


	12. Chapter 12

**CHAPTER 12**

On the way down, Matt called CJ and filled her in on what was going on. He knew she wouldn't be too thrilled with him being involved in the raid.

"Here we go again. Please be careful, Matt. Maybe I should record that – I seem to be saying it every day."

"Yes dear." Matt used a hen-pecked voice and managed to get a laugh out of her. "Love you."

"Love you, hon. Keep your powder dry – and don't forget to duck."

"Quack. 'Bye." He hung up as he opened the door on his truck and pulled out his holster and pistol. After checking the magazine, he grabbed four more from the console and then took his bulletproof vest out of the back seat, sliding it over his head before strapping on the holster. When he was finished, he locked up the truck and headed across the garage to meet up with Cranston and his team. As it turned out, they were being joined by Brad Langston and his SWAT team. He and Matt shook hands.

"Well you're certainly making the rounds this week. I heard you were in on that little water-way traffic stop with the Coasties yesterday." Langston grinned as he checked the magazine of the AR-15 that he was carrying.

"Yeah, needed a little change of scenery." Matt grinned.

"Need a ride?" Langston motioned to the same truck that had been used previously when the warrant was served on Yearly's house.

"Sure." Matt climbed into the back and sat opposite the lieutenant as his phone rang. He dug down inside his shirt pocket in his vest and pulled it out, checking the caller ID. "Hey Hoyt, what's up? Who me? Oh, just hanging out with some friends in the back of a SWAT truck, why do you ask?" He rolled his eyes and made a face at Langston who chuckled. "Yeah, but that was yesterday." Matt laughed. The truck started moving. "Tell you what; I'll drop the DVD's by there on my way home. And quit scratching. You too bud. 'Bye." He hung up the phone, turned off the ringer and stuffed it back into the pocket of his shirt. "Poor guy is itching something fierce."

Langston nodded. "I don't doubt it."

It wasn't long before they were nearing the target and Langston gave the members of the team last-minute reminders. When the truck stopped, Matt and the team jumped out of the back. Langston and three of the other officers hit the front door at a run, followed by Matt, Jenkins, and Anderson while the other five members of the team hit the back door. When Langston shouted out "POLICE! HANDS IN THE AIR!" all hell started to break loose.

There was more going on in the strip club than dancing and drinking. Three men that had been standing at the far end of the bar took off running toward the back of the club only to have their paths blocked by the other members of the team. While one immediately threw up his hands in the air and surrendered, two of them ran into a dressing room, causing a chorus of screams to be heard as the dancers were scared witless. The girls ran out into the main room.

Matt had identified two of the men: Yearly and his accomplice from the firebombing. When they took off toward the back, he was hot on their heels and ran into the dressing room a couple of seconds after they did. As soon as he came through the door, the private investigator hit the floor; Yearly had produced an AK-47 and began showering the walls with bullets. Rolling towards his left, Matt knocked one of the dressing tables over and took cover behind it, knowing all the while that the bullets could come through the wood. He was joined by Langston a second later.

When Matt heard the banana clip from the rifle hit the floor, he jumped up and moved toward Yearly, only to be fired at by the accomplice who was armed with a Mac-11 9mm semiautomatic pistol. Diving to his left as he fired, Matt managed to hit the accomplice with a shot to the leg, just below the knee. The man let out a scream as he went down.

Yearly had popped in another magazine and the private investigator was wondering how many the drug dealer had; the other had at been at least fifty rounds. Taking a quick look around the room, Matt noticed the similarity between the walls and a wheel of Swiss cheese. As he stood up behind the corner of the wall that he had made it to he could see Langston as he took a quick peek over the table top. Yearly fired in that split second and Matt could see a spurt of blood from the SWAT leader hit the wall behind him. He chanced a quick look around the corner. The accomplice appeared to be passed out and it was no wonder: there was blood flowing freely from the wound that Matt had given him. "Yearly, your buddy is gonna die if we don't get him some help quick. He's bleeding out." He could hear movement around the corner and then whispering and knew that Yearly was checking on the accomplice. Glancing back over toward Langston, Matt saw the lieutenant holding something in his hand, then it was tossed at Matt who caught the grenade with his left hand. It was a 519 CS Handtoss Grenade. _CS – tear gas. Oh, great. _Having served in Army Special Forces, the private investigator was familiar with its capabilities as well as what he could expect from being so close to it. He quickly holstered his pistol, pulled a bandana out of his back pocket and tied it over his nose and mouth, knowing that it wouldn't completely protect him from the tear gas, but it would help a little bit.

Drawing his pistol once again and placing it in his left hand the private eye took the grenade in his right. "Yearly, drop it and come on out, man, it's over. This is your last chance." Matt glanced back toward the door and saw two of the other SWAT members who nodded at him and indicated that they would pull the lieutenant out after Matt threw the grenade. He nodded back. "You've got until the count of three. Then all hell is gonna break loose."

Yearly's response was laced with colorful assessments of Houston's lineage. "Okay, have it your way." Taking a deep breath, he nodded at the SWAT team and then pulled the pin on the grenade, easing around the edge of the wall and firing a couple of shots for cover as he tossed the tear gas at Yearly's position in the room. The following seconds felt like slow motion to Matt. There was a small explosion which emitted a few flames, then the cloud of tear gas boiled up from the floor. While use of the grenades wasn't recommended indoors, the flames could be knocked down quickly after the suspect was apprehended. Matt could hear Yearly begin to cough. Moving away from his cover, he slid along the wall until he could see the drug dealer: his hands were flailing in the air and his finger was still on the trigger of the AK-47. Matt lunged, executing a flying tackle and knocked the man to the floor, hitting him on the back of the head with the Glock that was now in his right hand. He grabbed him by the back of his jeans and drug him toward the fire exit at the back of the room. Yearly was out cold. Matt quickly looked back in the door as two SWAT members grabbed Yearly's accomplice and drug him out into the alley way where Matt was holding the door for them. Two others pulled the lieutenant out of the dressing room and out into the bar area. Spying a fire extinguisher, the private eye quickly put out the flames from the canister that had blazed up when coming in contact with several pieces of clothing.

After stepping back out into the alley where the SWAT team now had both men cuffed and were applying pressure to the leg wound of the injured drug dealer, Matt pulled the bandana off and took a deep breath of fresh air. He looked at the two officers and grinned. "Good thing this was a strip club – that fire didn't have much material to work with." All three broke into laughter as an ambulance pulled up to haul the prisoners to the hospital.

Matt walked back around the building to find Langston being hauled out to a waiting ambulance. "How you doing?"

"Oh, I'll be okay." He pointed to the upper part of his left arm. "Might have a little chunk missing though."

"You take care." Matt shook his hand and watched as the paramedics loaded the lieutenant.

"You know Hoyt said you were a pretty good baseball player," Langston hollered back out at Matt.

"Yeah, even played pro once." He gave the cop a thumbs up and walked over to Lee Jenkins who was talking to two members of the SWAT team. "Where in the hell did you disappear to? You missed all the fun."

"Show off." Jenkins grinned at him. "Don't suppose you want to do the paperwork do you?"

"Hell no; what do you think I am – a cop?" Matt went back over to the SWAT truck and loaded up with the rest of the team for the ride back. He pulled out his cell phone and saw the screen had been badly cracked. "Oops. Well, there's another one gone." One of the other men handed his phone over and Matt thanked him as he punched in the number for his office. "Hey, Babe – just thought I'd let you know it's all over. I'm okay and we got Yearly and his helper." He listened for a minute. "And would you activate another phone for me? Mine just bit the dust." Matt looked at the man who had lent him the phone and grinned. "Yep, guilty as charged. See you in a little bit. Love you. 'Bye." He disconnected the call and thanked the officer.

On the way home that night, CJ and Matt stopped by Michael Hoyt's house to drop off a couple of DVD's on deer hunting that Matt had gotten for his friend. Hoyt wouldn't let him leave until he gave a complete accounting of everything that had happened in the case from start to end. While the men were talking shop, CJ and Anne were drinking tea in the kitchen and eavesdropping on the two. "Just like a couple of kids." Anne laughed.

"You've got that right." CJ took another sip of tea as Matt steered the conversation toward the hunting trip and then finally told Hoyt that he needed to get home – or else Catey and Cricket were going to miss out on their nightly ride and that he would be in trouble.


	13. Chapter 13

**CHAPTER 13**

Thursday morning found Matt pulling a dark blue suit out of his closet, something that he didn't do often these days. He caught himself checking over the garment carefully, making sure that there were no wrinkles or lint on it. As CJ sat in front of the dressing table brushing her hair she watched him. Some old habits never go away. When Matt had emerged from the bathroom that morning the beard that he had been wearing for a couple of months was gone. He had worked the funeral details of more soldiers than he cared to remember, and even though he no longer wore a uniform, he believed that the attention to detail that he had learned not only from the Army but from his dad, was a way of paying tribute to the fallen. When he was dressed, Matt carried out the suit jacket, still on its hangar, and hung it in the back of his wife's Navigator. CJ had already taken Catey over to the Hoyt's house earlier and it was now just Matt, CJ, and Sheila in the house.

Bo and Lamar walked up from the barn, both wearing suits and looking highly uncomfortable. "How's she doing, Houston?" Lamar watched as Matt brushed the sleeve of the jacket before closing the truck door.

He shook his head. "She's a tough lady. It's not going to be easy, but she's doing her best."

Sheila and CJ walked out the door just then and Matt went around the front of the vehicle and opened the doors for both ladies and helped them inside. As he went back around to the driver's side he looked at the two men. "Do y'all want to ride with us?"

"No, we'll take the truck. See you in a bit." Bo headed back down toward the bunkhouse followed by Lamar. Matt slid behind the wheel, started the engine and headed down the driveway. They arrived at the funeral home thirty minutes later, with the two ranch hands pulling into the parking lot just seconds after their boss. They came over and opened the doors for Sheila and CJ as Matt pulled his jacket out of the back and put it on.

As they stepped inside the building Sheila took a deep breath and reached for Matt's arm. They were met by one of the funeral directors and taken back to the chapel where Charles flag-draped casket was surrounded by flowers. The Marine Corps detail that was assigned to Master Gunnery Sergeant Wentworth were in place and keeping watch over their fallen comrade. As Matt escorted Sheila inside, the captain who had been assigned to help the widow through the whole process snapped to attention as did the other members of the detail. The Marine took Sheila's arm and escorted her up to the casket followed closely by Matt and CJ, who noticed a look that passed between the two men. Matt shook his head at her and whispered, "I'll explain it later."

After she had seen that everything for the service was as it should be, she turned to introduce the captain to Matt and CJ but stopped when she saw the look that passed between the two men. "How are you, Houston?" The two men shook hands and then hugged. "What's it been – eight years?"

"More like nine." Matt and the captain smiled. "CJ, you've heard me talk about Wally Massey? This is him."

The captain held out his hand to CJ. "And I see a couple of wedding rings here – told you so." He kissed CJ on the cheek. "Congratulations." Matt pulled out his phone and showed his old friend a picture of Catey Rose and himself riding Cricket. "Aww…good thing she looks like her mom." The Marine's face grew serious again. "I heard you got the two …ahem…idiots who did this to the Gunny."

Matt nodded gravely. "Yesterday."

"Well done, Army." He shook Matt's hand again, then turned to Sheila. "Mrs. Wentworth, the men of this detail would like the opportunity to meet you, if you don't mind – they all served with your husband." Sheila nodded and walked over where she spoke with each of the men and thanked them for what they were doing for Charles.

One young corporal spoke up. "It's the least we can do for the Gunny, ma'am. He got us through all kinds of troubles over there. None of us would be here today if he hadn't saved our bacon on more than one occasion. Whatever you need, you just let us know and it's done, ma'am." All six of the young men resumed their posts guarding the deceased gunnery sergeant.

Matt and CJ sat down in the second row of pews and he put his arm around her. "So how did the captain know about me…and what was with the "I told you so."?" CJ looked up at Matt's blushing face.

"I uh…" He stopped for a minute and took her hand. "We were pinned down once, well truthfully, more than once. More like several times, actually. And we talked about the people back home and who we wanted to be able to see at least one more time…" She saw him swallow hard, and then he looked up at her with those dark brown eyes. "When I started talking about you, he told me, "Army, you need to marry that lady. You're obviously in love with her."" Matt smiled a shy smile. "He was with Will and me when…" He stopped for a minute. "The day Will got taken prisoner. He was one of the ones that found me."

CJ knew how hard it had been for her husband to talk about his time in the war. It wasn't something that he wanted to remember most of the time, yet truthfully, it never really left him. Sheila came over and sat down in front of them along with Captain Massey. Matt leaned forward. "Hey Wally, you know I went back and found Will." The Marine turned back with a surprised look on his face.

"You did?" He was afraid to ask if he was still alive.

"He's working on a job for my detective agency right now with his dad." Matt smiled.

Massey nodded. "He's a lot like you, Houston. Stubborn… and that's a good thing, considering what he had to go through." He got quiet for a moment. "You know I've said it before and I'll say it again: you should have been a Marine."

When friends of Sheila and Charles started to arrive, Massey stood by her side the entire time. And as the time for the service drew near and Sheila came to sit down on the front pew of the chapel, Massey was by her side once again. She turned back to Matt and CJ. "Would you two please come up here with me?" The pair nodded and walked around to have a seat next to the grieving widow. All through the service, the nurse continued to hold onto the hands of both of the men.

When they moved to the graveside, Matt continued to stand by her side as the captain assumed his duties with the ceremony. Through the short service, including the playing of taps, the volley of gunfire, and the folding of the flag, he stayed by her side as did CJ. When it was over and Charles' casket had been lowered into the grave, Matt escorted Sheila and CJ to the Navigator and returned to stand with Massey until the grave was closed.

As they headed back toward the vehicle, Matt invited the captain to the ranch. "I'd love to Houston, but I've got another funeral detail to start on. Corporal Spence is due in at the airport in two hours."

"Well the offer stands." He handed the captain one of his business cards. "Whenever you're out this way and need a place to land you're always welcome." The two men shook hands and hugged again and then Matt took his ladies home.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: ****The Los Angeles National Cemetery is the final resting place of one of the stars of the "Matt Houston" TV series. Paul Brinegar who played Lamar Pettybone during the show's first season is buried there. Brinegar (****1917–1995) was a World War II US Navy Chief Radioman****. **


End file.
